How Hard is Getting Saved? . . . . . . . Nashville Conference 2005

[Kat]

Bible Truths Conference
Nashville TN 2005
GettingSaved_p1.mp3 http://bible-truths.com/audio/N05
GettingSaved_p2.mp3 http://bible-truths.com/audio/N05

                     
                                                            How Hard is Getting Saved?
                                                                        by L. Ray Smith


Who gave me this newspaper...The Tennesian—the article is called "The Scripture has the Last Say on Who is and Who isn't a Christian." By Betty Joe King.

She says, "There's an awful lot of talk around media, politicians, and anybody else who can draw a public audience, about what a Christian is, what a Christian believes, and what a Christian does."

I'm just going to hit a couple of the high points. I'm not going to read the whole thing.

"A Christian is a person who believes and accepts the authority of the bible." (King)

True or False. There are all kinds of "bibles". Bible is a translation of scriptures that could be a fairly good translation or a very bad one.

"God wrote the Bible..." (King)

See, these are misconceptions...God didn't "write" the bible. God INSPIRED the writing of the Holy Scriptures. (which were not written in archaic English, Japanese, Chinese, or Mongolian) Any foreign language that the Scriptures are translated in are BIBLES: God did not write the Bible....this is total heresy.

"Just for the record, let me lay out for you just what a true Christian is or believes: 1)Man was created in the image of God" (King)

If you believe how it's worded in the King James, that God created man (past tense), in the image of God, you will NEVER EVER understand the scriptures. If you don't understand Genesis 1:26, you will never understand the scriptures because that verse tells us why God made humanity; and if you don't know why He created humanity, how will you ever know what this is all about? And here's a typical Christian. Now, you know we're not talking just disparagingly about Christians who believe these things, I believed them! We've all been deceived. And we know they are deceived. We love them. But this is heresy. I'll talk a little bit about that.

"If Adam and Eve had not sinned, there would be no such thing as death." (King)

See, what they think is, God created first of all a great Archangel, one of his most spectacular creatures of all. Right? And the whole thing went belly-up! Bad idea...He gave it His best shot, but it didn't work. Well, He was a novice. This was His first attempt at something really big like this. And it just didn't turn out. His own creation turned against Him. He says then, "well, let me try something different. We tried the spirit beings, let's try the physical beings." So He made Adam and Eve. Made them perfect.

I just flipped on (the tv) for a couple of minutes, while I was having my coffee two days ago and Creflo Dollar and Kenneth Copeland were together. And Kenneth was saying how when God made Adam, you couldn't even see him; he was so radiant and beautiful, so absolutely glorified, you couldn't even see he had a body. He was so glorious.

But God screwed up again, see, He gave him this thing called "free will" and boy, that went bunkers. Now God is trying for six thousand years to get us back as good as we were when the whole thing failed!! Is that not basic teaching? We want to get back to as good as it was?? When it FAILED? If we truly have free will, at what point in eternity do we lose it that we don't do the same thing all over again: turn against God. Do people think about this stuff in Christianity? NEVER, never ever do they think about this.

It doesn't say, "so God CREATED man". The word is CREATING. And the words are, "Creating is God humanity." That's a difference "He created man," than "Creating is God humanity."  It's a process, it's still going on. If Adam was the best God could offer, it wasn't very good because it failed.

Then He said, well, I'll call out a nation and I'll give them my Laws. And that went belly up! If you listen to Christianity (they won't admit to it) but if you listen to what they say, they say, well God is just one big failure after another. Everything He touches turns to rust. But that's not the truth of it. God is creating Man in His image. We're not there yet. Now, when you understand that, you can follow this all the way through the bible. This is an ongoing work, you see. And all the "failure" it's all by design. Nothing has ever taken God by surprise. Only by design, everything happens by design. He sees the end from the beginning. He KNEW that Adam would sin.  They say, no He didn't know, and there's another one the tree.

Copeland said, "All God asked is for Adam to leave my tree alone! You know, you can have your trees and leave mine alone!"

But who created this tree? God created this tree, right. Was this a good tree? Completely good? This is a tree of good and evil. Why in the world would God create a tree of Evil? Why would He create a tree of Good and Evil all in the same tree? Now, I could see a Tree of Good, and a Tree of Evil: eat the Good, but don't eat the Evil. No, He put them both in the same tree! What? Do you understand the wisdom of this? This is not some stupid folklore where the guy got screwed up, He didn't know how to separate Good and Evil so put them in the same tree...this is the wisdom of God! You can't separate Good from Evil. You cannot come to a knowledge of Good without Evil. You cannot know Up unless you know what Down is. You don't know what Sweet is unless you know what Sour is, or you would never know what sweet is.

You say, Adam and Eve were so happy in the Garden, everything was so nice....as opposed to what? You say, the weather was so warm...as opposed to what? If they were never cold, they didn't know that they were warm! If they were fed, they would have never experienced hunger...how would you know it's a good feeling to be fed if you never went hungry?

God created everything that is necessary to take Man, which He did create back in the Garden of Eden, and turn him into the very image of God. This takes a lot of doing. This is not a "snap of the finger". And this is not a magic formula. And this is not, like Mrs. King would say here, a repeating of the "sinner's prayer".

"There is eternal life and there is eternal death. There is a heaven waiting for those born again and there is an eternal hell for those who do not accept Jesus." (King)

Every little paragraph: lie, lie, lie. The whole entire thing is just all lies.

"Faith in Jesus and personal acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior is the only way to heaven." (King) And I'm going to talk about that in my paper (that's why I underlined that).

"Christians believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit." (King)

I'll give anybody ten thousand dollars if you can show me the phrase: "God the Holy Spirit" in the scriptures. I hear it all day long. I hear it on television. "God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit". Ten thousand dollars waiting for the first person who shows me the phrase, "God the Holy Spirit" in scriptures. There is no such thing.

"A prayer similar to this must be prayed..." (King)

Okay, here comes the "sinner's prayer". Doesn't have to be exact, just similar...this is the gist of what you have to say...Anybody have a second hand on their watch? Okay, when I drop my hand you time me...ready?

"Lord Jesus, I confess that I'm a sinner. I believe Jesus died on the cross and shed his blood for me. Come into my heart and save me, I pray in Jesus' name, Amen." (King)

Eleven seconds. Does anybody in their right mind (well maybe I should take that back), does anybody believe that you can be saved in eleven seconds? This is in today's newspaper; say that eleven second prayer and you'll be saved.

Alright, the topic of my talk today is: How hard is getting saved?

Well, obviously, not very hard! It can be done in eleven seconds, you just read it from an expert. Eleven seconds and you're saved. NOT!

I'm going to talk today about what it takes to get saved.

Benny Hinn has a little promo at the beginning of his show, and it shows this woman just beaming from ear to ear, smiling...she was apparently healed at one of these things and she says, "Benny, getting healed is just as easy as getting saved!" (laughter)

I mean, that's just how easy they think it is. Easier than falling out of your chair. That's how easy it is to get saved. I'm going to show you today that "getting saved" is the hardest most difficult thing that any human being in the history of the universe will ever do. There is nothing harder than "getting saved". Are you hearing me? It is the hardest thing any human being will ever do in all of eternity. It's the ultimate hard task.
But, when you read the scriptures, it doesn't sound that way.

Acts 2:21 MKJV
21 And it shall be that everyone who shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Am I denying that scripture? No, I'm not denying that scripture. What I'm saying is Christendom doesn't know what that scripture means. Maybe many of you don't know what that scripture means. But I'm here to tell you that if you do call upon the name of the Lord, you shall be saved. Notice, it is in the future tense. It doesn't say you "have been" saved: if you believe you "have been already" saved. You'll read that in my new paper too (Fools, Hypocrites, Snakes). I've talked about this already but here I bring it all out, I show you every scripture...there is no scripture in the bible that says anybody has ever been saved while they were still alive. You know that? There is no such thing as "being saved" in the past tense, while you are still alive.

There's a reason why Christ says, "They'll hate you and persecute you and everything, but he that endures until the END has "already been" saved....no, you endure to the end and then you SHALL be saved." You are not saved, unless and until, we come up in the first resurrection. That is the only proof that anyone will have that they are saved, if you come up in the first resurrection. If you don't, then you are not saved; it's just axiomatic, if you don't come up in that resurrection

Well, that scripture is true but I want to show you a new way of thinking about the scriptures today. Because this is a big book (bible), there is a lot of stuff in this book. There are single scriptures in here that have been debated by hundreds and thousands of theologians for hundreds and thousands of years! One scripture! There are singular scriptures, one verse, that have had hundreds of volumes written about them.

Jesus Christ is the Son of Man. What does that mean? They debate it, and they write books on it. One scripture, or half of a scripture. There are tens of thousands of scriptures in this book! If a hundred thousand theologians in two thousand years can't figure out one phrase, how are you and I ever going to know what is in this book? It's a big book! There's a lot in there. How in the world are you going to learn 1200 pages of these difficult scriptures, what they mean and how do you apply them to your life?

It's an enigma. It's overwhelming. It's unfathomable. But there's a way...

There is a way to understand the scriptures. Not in a day, but in a relatively short period of time, you'll get the main points, and then you'll build upon that. You'll get the idea, and you'll say, wow.

After Jesus' resurrection, before he left them, it says he opened up to them the scriptures. Remember that? He opened up their understanding to the scriptures. Oh yeah? And how did he do that? They were with him for 3 1/2 years and they didn't understand the scriptures. But before he left he, it says He opened up their understanding of the scriptures...how did he do that? How do you sit down and open up my understanding to the scriptures?  God has ways. God can teach you things. That's why you're here today. This is no accident that you are sitting here. And believe me there are not too many groups like this anywhere on earth, teaching what I'm going to teach you here today. There just aren't. It's no "feather in my cap"; it's just a fact. We're looking for them. There must be somebody out there. We get thousands of people looking, searching the website, from Canada, Alaska, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, the British Isles, Scotland, Ireland, Wales....and they are all sending me websites saying "You believe just like this guy here" I read the first paragraph and I can see he lied three times! And that's as far as I go and I let them know, "No, I don't believe like that, not at all."

But there are spiritual principals in the bible that God has left us, and if God has not opened up your understanding, I'll give you these spiritual principals, but you'll still go out of here and say, "I don't know what Ray is talking about." But if He opens your understanding and only God can do it, and then you'll say, "I know what he's talking about now."

You read in the gospels all these maybe 30 or 40 comments from the Old Testament with some reference to Christ. And when you go back there and read it, you think, "this has nothing to do with Christ!" He's talking about something else. But the Apostles say it's talking about Christ. "What? I don't see it..." Why did they do that?

Right in the beginning in Acts, (before the Holy Spirit came) Paul says, "For it is written in the book of Psalms let his habitation be desolate and let no man dwell therein and his bishopry let another one have." Now that sounds like it might be a quote from one of the Psalms, right? No. He took two Psalms, part of this one and part of that one, and put them together. It says, "let his habitation.." It doesn't say "his" habitation when you go back to read it, it says "their" habitation. He takes part of a verse here and part of a verse there, changes the words, and says, "this is what God says we should do." And yet if I quote any scripture from anywhere in the bible, every theologian on earth says, "Ray, you quoted that out of context." If I say, "God is Love", oh but ONLY IN CONTEXT Ray! God is only love in the context in Romans 6 or 7 where that is used, you can't just lift that out and say it like it's a truth. Boy, I'm telling you, you just have no idea how far down the road theology has gone.

But this looks like it's a little over the top...Peter takes a scripture from here and there, part of one, part of another, CHANGES THE WORDS and says, "What God is telling us here is that we have got to find a replacement for Judas."

How could he do that?  Does anybody know how he did that?
How could he get away with that? You don't have to be too much of a theologian to look at that and try to find that in the book of Psalms, and you have to go to two Psalms, and then you find he changed the words...HOW DID HE GET AWAY WITH THAT??

Is that scriptural or is that heresy, what Peter did there? Jesus Christ, before He left, He opened up the scriptures to Peter. What did He tell him? What did He tell him, that he could do that...?? He showed him, that whenever the scriptures talk about Israel, they are talking about Him. You follow that? Whenever the scriptures talk about Israel, it has reference to Christ. And whatever has reference to Christ has reference to us! Because Christ is in us: as Christ is so are we.  Are you following that?  Who got that? Anybody?

"In as much as you've done it to the least of these, my brethren, you've done it unto me!" (Matt. 25:40).  

ANYWHERE! EVERYWHERE!

That's what He taught them! "Any scripture you read, it has reference to me (Christ)! And if it has reference to me, it's talking about you!" Therefore, when I read Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, I know what it's talking about. Fire should come out of your mouth, and you will devour them. That's talking about this ministry, TODAY. That's this ministry! "You fools, you hypocrites, you snakes!" That's fire from heaven. And that's going to devour people. It's going to make them very angry when that heat from that fire hits them.  Now are you starting to understand?

Peter could take any scripture....and this "Context, context, context" garbage is just that...GARBAGE! The context is; if it's talking about Israel, it's talking about Christ and if it's talking about Christ, it's talking about us.
Now we have a whole new bible! And I'm going to show you that that same theme goes through everything.

God is...how many?? ONE. What is this? (holds up bible) It's the word of God right? If God is One, wouldn't we also possibly think that His word is One?  Yes it is.

So you have a scripture that says, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, (Acts 2:21)" And that's true. But you have to know what it means. And Christians will pick out a verse like that and say, "This is all you have to do..." They find the scripture with the lowest common denominator, with the least amount to do, and if it says that will save you than they say, "That's it, that's the one I want!" You see, they want that simple one.

But then in Acts 6:31, it says "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved."

Well which is it? CALL upon the name of the Lord, or BELIEVE in Jesus Christ....and then you'll be saved.

Well then in Mark 16:16, it says, "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved."

Well, now we are getting down to it...(counts off on his fingers): You call upon the name of the Lord, you believe on the name of the Lord, you're baptized and then.....?? You'll be saved, right?  Well, that is if there were no more scriptures.

But then we have a scripture in John 10:9 that says, "I am the door, by Me if any man enter he shall be saved."  Well what if you don't enter by the door? If Christ is the door and you have to enter in at the door to be saved, if you don't enter in at the door can you be saved? Well, I wouldn't think so.

And then we have in Ephesians 2:8, "For by grace, are you saved, through faith"

Now let me see if I've got this straight:
1. believe on the name of the Lord
2. call on the name of the Lord
3. be baptized
4. enter in at the door of Christ
5. and then by grace
6. through faith

.......and then I will be saved. Right? Wrong Paleface, because there's more!

1 Cor 1:21, "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe"

So now I've got to:
1. believe on the name of the Lord
2. call on the name of the Lord
3. be baptized
4. enter in at the door of Christ
5. and then by grace
6. through faith
7. and now I've got to listen to the foolishness of Ray Smith before I can be saved???

I mean, is he serious? It PLEASED God, it isn't that He allows it, that it's like the lowest form of getting saved. No, it PLEASES God to save those that believe by the foolishness of people like me. The FOOLISHNESS, not the great wisdom.....the foolishness of preaching will save you!

[Kat]

                                                                                                                                                                                                                     page 2

That is, if you follow that along with 1 Timothy 2:4, "Who will have all men to be saved, but... you've got to come to a knowledge of truth."

1 Cor 15:1-2, I declare unto you the gospel by which you are saved

Okay, so by the gospel I'm going to be saved, if I get all this knowledge of the truth, and if I enter at the door, and if I'm saved by grace through faith, and if I'm baptized and believe on His name, and call on His name... then I'll be saved, FOR SURE, right?

1 Cor 3:15, "Being reconciled you shall be saved by His life."  

Now do you think you can be saved WITHOUT His life? Do you think God put that scripture in there "being reconciled you shall be saved by His life" and you think we can tear that out and be saved not by His life? Do you think that scripture is in vain put in there? We need His life! We need to have faith in His name and we need to call upon Him and be baptized. We need to walk through the door and be saved by grace through faith, and the foolishness of preaching. We must come to a knowledge of the truth, and then we will be saved. Well, there are a few more too.

Rom 10:9  You will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ (we haven't read that yet!), and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you shall be saved

Are you following what I'm talking about here? Do you see all these scriptures? Do you think any one of them was written in vain? That we can just tear it out of the bible and say, we don't need that one, we've got six or seven others? Do you think we can be saved without Christ's life? Do you think that scripture is not important?

So now we've got to:
1. Confess with your mouth
2. and believe in our heart that He raised Jesus from the dead
3. and we know that we've got to be reconciled to God
4. and take on the quality of Christ's life
5. and we've got to walk through the door
6. and be baptized
7. and we've got to listen to Ray's foolishness of preaching
8. and we've got to call upon the name of the Lord....etc. etc. etc.

And now you'll be saved? You haven't even started!
Well, WHAT IS ALL THIS STUFF? WHAT IS IT? Why is all this stuff in the Bible? How do you do all this stuff?  

There's more, I could go on for days, there's more and more and more.... and THEN you shall be saved!
If you've got to do all that then why does it say, "Whosever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved"? Because that's all you have to do! But what about all the rest??? It's ALL ONE!

If you do any one of these in the spirit, you will be saved. Any one of them. They're all the same! Each one comes from a little different perspective, but they're all the same. You need to learn the principal; you need wisdom to know what the word of God is all about.

You don't learn these things in Sunday school and church; they've never heard of these things. If I was teaching to a large congregation, it would blow them away and I would have been shown the door by now. Even though I'm doing nothing but reading scripture! They'd say, 'we've heard enough of this heresy!' You mean, you've heard enough of the word of God! You are sick of the word of God and you don't want to hear anymore of it do you!

All of these are the same, you do one of them in the Spirit and you will have done them all.

In February, I talked of the Rich Man and how he only lacked one thing, he went away sorrowful because he had great riches. Christ said, Well just sell everything you have... Then He said, well there's one thing you lack... Just ONE thing, that's all. I mean, this man kept all the commandments, what did he lack? HE LACKED CHRIST!! You've got to have Christ.

Colossians 2:10, We are complete in HIM...

If you don't have Christ, you're not complete.

So I'm going to teach you principles today, so I don't have to teach you ten thousand verses. So every time you read the scriptures you're going to say, 'I'm glad I went to that conference!'

Matthew 13:3-5 KJV
v. 3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
v. 4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
v. 5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:

They didn't understand it. He had to explain it to them.

Mat 13:24  Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;
v. 25  but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
v. 26  But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.
v. 27  So the servants of the owner came and said to him, "Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?'
v. 28  He said to them, "An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, "Do you want us then to go and gather them up?'
v. 29  But he said, "No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.
v. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn."
v. 31  Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field,
v. 32  which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."

Matthew 13:33 (KJV) Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

What? That's it, that's a parable. That's it.

Mat 13:44  "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
v. 45  "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls,
v. 46  who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
v. 47  "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind,
v. 48  which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away.
v. 49  So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just,
v. 50  and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
v. 51  Jesus said to them, "Have you understood all these things?"
They said to Him, "Yes, Lord."

Oh yea, we get it? It's like at the last supper they say, 'Why do you teach these things in riddles and stuff?'  So Jesus rewords it and then Peter says, 'Ah, now we got ya Lord, now you're talking plain!' He had no idea what Jesus said.

Mark 4:13 (KJV) And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?

How many ever read that verse? How many of you know what it means? I told you how Christ opened up their understanding and they knew what the Old Testament was talking about. They could apply it any way they wanted to, as long as they had that principle in tow, whatever they said would be true. The Holy Spirit will show you how to do that, and it will all make sense, and it will all be true, but you've got to know what the principle is.

Did you read what that says? How will you know this scripture, how will you know ALL parables? If you don't know this parable, how will you know all the other parables? If you know one parable, you know them all. If you spiritually understand the parable, that is, because there are some variations of them. Sometimes they give both sides of a situation, sometimes they only present one side of a situation. But it's still the same parable. If you understand a parable you understand all parables, because it's nothing but a repeat.

Everything I gave you: believe in the Lord, call upon the name of the Lord, confess with your mouth, enter through the door, by grace through faith, be baptized etc. etc. etc.... It's all the same command! Those are not 25 different things that we have to do! It's all ONE!

There are 39 parables recorded in the gospels, but there are only ONE! The Kingdom of God is like this or like that; it's like a farmer, it's like a fisherman, it's like a guy hunting treasure, it's like a woman putting leaven into a meal. It's all the same parable! You'll find this theme, running not just through the parables, but running through the whole scriptures. I've just jotted down a handful here:

1. Many are called, few are chosen. Do you know what all the parables are about? All of them, every one of them. Do you know what they are about?  Many are called, few of chosen. That's what they are all about. Are you getting it?  Every parable is about many called, few chosen.

2. The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18). Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and one a tax collector. The one prayed inside of himself thus, I thank you Lord that I'm not like one of those, dare I say it, this tax collector over here, this sinner, this piece of garbage. I fast twice a week, I tithe all that I have... and this and that.... That's what every parable is about: the Pharisee and the tax collector! This is heavy stuff!

3. The Wise Virgins...  the Foolish Virgins.  Same thing.
4. The Lost Sheep...  the 99
5. The Old Cloth...  the New Cloth
6. The Wheat...  the Tares
7. The Carnal Mind...  the Mind of Christ
8. Judge Now...  Judge Later
9. Physical Israel...  Spiritual Israel
10. The First Adam...  The Second Adam
11. Heart of Stone...  Heart of Flesh
12. First the Shadow...  Then the Reality
13. The True Gospel...  Another Gospel
14. Image of the Earthly...  Image of the Heavenly
15. The Tree of Good and Evil,

TWO!

16. The Pharisee...  the tax collector, You get it? The whole Bible!

17. Cain...  Abel
18. Some was sown in the good soil... some was sown in the stony places
19. Seed of the Woman...  Seed of Satan
20. Joseph...  Joseph's brothers
21. Sarah...  Hagar
22. The Shadow...  The Reality
23. The Law of Sin and Death...  the Law of the Spirit of Christ
24. The Rich Man...  Poor Lazarus
25. The Faithful Servant...  The Evil Servant
26. The Elder Son...  The Prodigal Son
27. The Old Wine Skins...  The New Wine Skins
28. The House on the Sand...  The House on the Rock.  

It's all the same thing.

29. Eonian Chastisement...  Eonian Life
30. First the Physical...  Then the Spiritual
31. The Old Covenant...  The New Covenant
32. The Carnal Law of Moses...  The Spiritual Law of God
33. Physical Blessings...  Spiritual Blessings
34. Temporary Blessings...  Eternal Blessings
35. First Resurrection...  Second Resurrection
36. The Image of Man...  The Image of God

Are you getting it? It's all ONE. God is ONE. His message is ONE. You just have to know what that ONE is. THE ONE IS JESUS CHRIST! That's the ONE. Because He's the first Adam, and He's the second Adam. But He's only ONE.

And when we are given the spirit of God, the spirit of Christ, guess what? We become ONE! This is so easy, but the greatest minds that ever lived cannot comprehend what I am telling you here today. This is spiritual stuff. There's no other way to understand the scriptures, they will never. They've got these theological seminaries, some of these guys have 8 doctor degrees (Kennedy has got 6: he's got a PhD, a D of Divinity, D of Theology, D of Sacred Letters, D of Literature and I think one other Doctor... amazing!) Does not know what the gospel is! Reads Hebrew and Greek fluently but does not even have a clue as to what the gospel is! Just amazing. Here's a bunch of carpenters and roofers, God says, 'Here's what this means Ray...' But it doesn't make us anything. We're nothing! God calls the weak, the nobodies, to confound the mighty, there it is again.

But it's all leading to that last one: Image of Man, to Image of God.  It's a big jump, that's what you call a quantum leap.

Now here's what you have to understand: there is nothing in this creation that is not necessary. You may say, 'Well, God could have done it a different way.' Oh ya, you're smart enough to know that He could have done it a different way? You may say, 'we don't need child molesters for God to accomplish what He wants.' Oh but we do, I'm afraid we do. I'm sorry that we do, but we do. It's necessary. But by the time you leave tomorrow you will have a different perspective on child molesters. Because I'm going to try and shows us a little bit about ourselves.

Now, let's go back to the first one: "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2:10). Is that true? Absolutely that is true! All you have to do is call upon the name of the Lord. That's all you have to do. But what does that mean? Well there's a scripture that tells us, thank God for that, we don't have to guess. Anybody know what that scripture is? There's a scripture that just flat out tells us what that scripture means. It's so simple I can understand it. There's a scripture that just explains that... Boom! It has to do with "the Lord." "That whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."

Luke 6:46 Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say!

So how do you call upon the name of the Lord? Jesus tells us, "Why do you call me Lord Lord, and do not the things that I say." You've got to have the whole counsel of God.

Every verse means what it says, but Peter also tells us that no scripture is of a private interpretation (according to the King James translation). But that word "private" means "own." I mean it kind of has a little connotation of "private," "your own private self" so to speak. But it means "own:"  No scripture is its OWN interpretation.

The scriptures can state something: "Whosever shall call upon the name of the Lord..." and that's a true statement, but that's not its own interpretation. Here's the verse that interprets that: If you're going to call upon the name of the Lord, if you're going to call me Lord, you've got to do what I say! You can't separate the scriptures. They are all in harmony, all of them. They do not contradict.

Well, what does the Lord say? Now, we get into what He says. You got to do what I say if you're going to call Me, Lord. You got to do what I say. A Lord is a Master, and a servant obeys the Master. That's why He's your Master, a Master is somebody you obey! If your going to call the Lord Master, you had better obey Him. He says do what I say, well what does he say? Well He says;

Mat 5:20 For I say unto you, that except your righteousness exceed that of the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Were the scribes and the Pharisees righteous? You bet they were. They kept the Law of Moses better than any of us could ever do. Will they be in the Kingdom of God? Absolutely not! Yet Christians will tell you, you've got to develop this Godly character, keep the Law of Moses.... but Jesus Christ said, "You've got leave the Pharisees in the dust or you'll never be in the Kingdom of God..."

John 3:3 Verily, verily I say unto you, except a man be born again... (means spiritually begotten, spiritually converted, spiritually regenerated)... he cannot see the Kingdom of God.

Jesus said, "Verily, verily I say unto you," and if your going to call upon the name of the Lord, you've got to do what He says. Did He say that?  He said that, then you got to do that.

Mat 5:28 But I say unto you that whosever looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Gal 5:19,21 Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these, adultery, they which commit such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

It isn't JUST that if you look upon a woman and lust after her you've committed adultery, if you commit adultery you'll never be in the Kingdom of Heaven. There's another scripture that says that. You can't throw that scripture away. It's part of that other scripture. It defines it... it interprets it.

Mat 5:39 "But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."

How many do that? Do we really have to do that? Somebody sues us, we sue them back, right? Isn't that the American way? Sure it is. We have to stop doing those things. We have to start doing what's right. Always. You can't do it unless you are regenerated, born again, converted, spiritually in your heart, and have God's spirit. These things are too tough. Even with God's spirit it's tough! I mean, you're going to think you did a lot of these things yourself it's so tough. But God is the one who is going to see you through it.

[Kat]

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John 12:24-25 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal."

That's a "verily, verily" too by the way.  He didn't just say that... He said "truly, truly, except a grain of wheat die." We're the grain of wheat, we have to die. Who wants to die? Where are you going to get a congregation of 25,000 skillion Christians if you tell them you're going to teach them how to die? I don't want to die, who wants to die! If you're going to be a follower of Jesus Christ, you have to die. That's not pleasant, it's not fun and games, it's just not all that much fun. It's rewarding, there's a joy to it, but it's not fun.

When the apostles were beaten one time, I believe, they went away and they sang a hymn and they rejoiced that they would be counted worthy to GET BEATEN!  I mean, getting beaten is not fun!  But boy when you know what it's doing, there is joy in it.

A lot of people say, 'Ray, I'm sorry all these people send you these horrible e-mails, they have no right to talk to you that way, condemning you to hell...'  I say, thank God for those e-mails. If I didn't get those thousands of hate-filled e-mails from Christians, it would be proof positive I'm not doing anything right! The word of God has got to produce those results in people who claim to be spiritual Jews, but are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan. If I were not persecuted I'd be one unhappy camper, because I'd know I'm doing something wrong... why aren't I persecuted? If I'm doing right, living right, and teaching right, why aren't people persecuting me?

"Verily, verily I say unto you in as much as you did unto the least of these my brethren, you've done it unto me" (Matt 25:40).

Now I've shown you how that applies, to the apostles understanding the old testament scriptures. But it also applies in that however we treat humanity is how we're treating Christ. They are in the physical image, already of God, not the spiritual image yet. But we are physically created, we do physically exist. So we need to think about that. 

It's easy to hug and say nice things about our own little group and then look upon the others as trash. We can't do that! You've got to be just as cognizant of people out there in the world and what their needs are, and so on and so forth. It's rewarding, I try to do a little of it. I don't do that much, I'm busy doing my thing. But I know we should do it when there is opportunity.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter in to the Kingdom of God (Matt 19:23)." That's a "verily, verily." If you're rich and wealthy or have your mind on it. Maybe you don't have it yet, but you're striving for it, you're striving for wealth and fame and fortune and that big mansion on the hill, and this is very important to you, you won't be in the Kingdom of God. Because your mind is on the wrong things. God's not looking for people like that.

Jesus Christ said I've come to call the sinners to repentance. I didn't come here to call the rich, famous and successful and the wise and the noble, according to this world. He didn't say he wasn't going to call ANY, just NOT MANY. There are some, so if we have a millionaire in our group don't look down upon him and say, 'well he'll never make it.' Because He does call some, not many though, but some.


Here's a biggie:

"But I say unto you, love your enemies (Matt 5:44)." Well how far would we get with this in any Christian church in America? Say why do you honor those that kill people, in the back of your room with this bronze plaque honoring murderers... why do you do that? Church goers say, 'somebody show this man the door before I kick him I the face. You talk down to our troops that way.' I'm not talking about your troops, I'm asking why do you honor murderers in the House of God?

They'll think you're the biggest heretic and traitor that ever lived. Love your enemies! Yet the whole Christian church is supporting this Iraqi war. They kill a lot of insurgents and cheer. Sometimes I feel like cheering... it's wrong. They're human beings and they're really not too much more deceived than the ones that are killing them. Yes, they're pretty far gone, but understand we're pretty far gone too. I mean, how stupid do you have to be to go to war with Iraq? I mean, give me a break.

I told my wife, when Bush came in, I said he's going to war, he is hell bent on going to war. He doesn't care what congress, the United Nations or his wife says, he is going to war!  He's got it in his head he's going to war, so he's going to war. He has no idea what he's getting himself into. I used those words and I said them stronger than that. He has not a clue what he is getting himself into. Now there are 2,000 dead, 13,000 injured and maimed for life.

The price tag is up around 300 billion dollars. Do you know how much 300 billion dollars is? We have sick, elderly and diseased people and homeless families and children in this country. They don't have food, don't have medicine, but we can spend 300 billion dollars on killing people. It's insane, it is just insane and there's no end in sight. I think God's going to let them win this war. We didn't win in Vietnam, we didn't win in Korea. The days of us winning wars I'm afraid is over and the price tag?

And then all these corrupt companies over there and they're supposed to be building Iraq. They're building spas and fabulous restaurants and such nonsense you wouldn't believe! Out of our tax dollars! I would speculate to fix a pothole would take about $1200-$1400. It's not just me bad mouthing the government, retired generals and people in high places, they don't know where the money is going. They don't know what's happening to the money, who's getting it. There's some stuff... you know they're getting some power back but with 300 billion dollars they ought to be able to do a few things, I mean, come on!

What would happen if Bush would have said, "We're not going over there, let them kill themselves." Of course there's the oil and all that. But I'm not trying to turn this into something political, but I'm just saying, here is the verse that says "Love your enemies." The whole Christian church backs this murdering killing stuff, they do and you know they do! Now, is this what Jesus Christ commands, to kill your enemies? Or to love your enemies?

They say, 'Ya but Ray we're talking about America which is a Christian nation defending....'  We're talking about the scriptures! "But I say unto you love your enemies!" What do they do with that scripture in the churches? They throw it out. They'll never be in the Kingdom of Heaven, not until they love their enemies. Not only love your enemies, you have to do good to those that persecute you. You have to pray for those that despitefully use you, you have to do that too. Why? "That you may be the sons of your Father" (Matt 5:45).

So that can take you from the image of a man, to the image of God - sons of God. When you have children, they're in your image, they're just like you. We're born into the Kingdom of God, through the resurrection. We will be like God, we will be in the image of God. We will see Jesus Christ as He is, because that's how we will be. Immortal, with spiritual bodies, with great power.

You read a scripture like:
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

And the churches quote that all day long, of course there's more, if you keep reading:

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship (Gk: achievement is a more accurate word), created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

'Wait a minute, I thought there were no good works?' No, not YOUR works, not through YOUR works lest any man should boast. But through the works that God prepared for you, that will follow right on the heels, yes it will. There will be good works or you won't be in the Kingdom of God.

Paul said study to show yourself approved. He said to Timothy, you have to study, if you don't study the scriptures you won't know all this stuff. So when you study he shows you more and more stuff. But God doesn't show you such and overwhelming amount of stuff that you've got to do, that you can't do it! That would discourage you. He's the one that's got to empower you, it's just that there's so much to be done. But He will empower you to do it. But you aren't going to say an 11 second prayer and be saved! That is sheer nonsense.

Now notice:

1 John 5:9-10 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God which He has testified about His Son. He who believes on the Son of God (this is the Lord) has the witness in himself. He who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he does not believe the record that God gave of His Son. (In many bibles it will say, "he that believes not the TESTIMONY," my margin says testimony) Because he believes not the testimony of the son of God, and this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His son. He that has the Son, has life, and he that has not the Son of God, has not life. These things I've written unto you that you believe on the name of the Son of God.

Now, call upon the name of the Lord, if you call Me Lord do what I say. Believe on the name of the Lord, "These things I have written that you believe on the name of the Lord, the Son of God!" What do you do if you believe on the Lord?  What's the problem with those who don't? It says, if they don't believe the "testimony" that God gave of His son... they don't believe that! They won't be in the Kingdom of God because they don't believe the testimony that God gave of His son! What is that testimony? Get ready...

Revelation 1:1-2 "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ"

Those who do not believe the testimony that God gave of His son, they are the ones who won't be in the Kingdom of God! "For this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son." His testimony of His Son and "These things were written that you believe on the name of the Lord." You've got to believe this testimony of Jesus Christ that His Father gave Him. Now that's not it's own interpretation, remember? You have to match spiritual with spiritual. What is that testimony? "The revelation of Jesus Christ which GOD gave onto Him... He bare record of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ." It's the same words! The Book of Revelation is the testimony of Jesus Christ!

Now, what are we going to do with all this?

Revelation 1:3 Blessed is he that reads, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein.

If you're going to call upon the name of the Lord, you have to do what the Lord says. In John we read that if you're going to call upon the name of the Lord you've got to believe the testimony that His Father gave concerning Him. Revelation says, this is that testimony - 22 chapters.

John was so sad when they were going to open the seals of this book. Why was he so sad? Why would John be so sad about that?

Revelation 5:2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
v. 3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
v. 4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.

Why would he cry? What's so important about these seals that John would weep like a child? Because he just wrote, you've got to keep what's in there! Now we can't even open them.  That's a catch-22, I've got to do what it says, but I don't know what it says! Who can open this up? The Son of God, He can. This is His testimony, He knows how to open it. So He opens up the seven seals... then there's seven trumpets... then there's seven plagues.

Before we get there though, we have the seven churches:

The church of Ephesus, it says they left their first love, and they had these Nicolaitans (who were those that exercised power), we call it church government. Christ said the Gentiles will rule with authority, but not so will you in My church. The Nicolaitans loved that power. What was the admonition to Ephesus? To repent, then if they overcame, they would get to partake of the tree of life.

Then he talks to Smyrna and they had those that were of the synagogue of Satan. They say they are Jews, but are not. They say they are converted to Christ, that's what that means... but they are not.  So the admonition is to be faithful unto death and if you overcome I'll give you the crown of life.

Then at Pergamos they had the doctrine of Balaam. And they also had the Nicolaitans and they were told to repent. If they overcame they would be given the hidden manna.

And then Thyatira had the doctrine of Jezebel and the very depths of Satan in their church. They were told to hold fast and if they overcame all their sins, they would have rulership over the nations in the Kingdom of God with Jesus Christ.

Then we have Sardis, which was spiritually dead and they had defiled garments, that is, they were not righteous, they were not morally upright. They were not living properly and they were told to repent. If they overcame they would not have their names taken out of the book of life.

Then we come to Philadelphia which was just like all the others, they had the synagogue of Satan among them. Those that said they were converted, but were not. They were told to hold fast and God would make them pillars in the temple of God, if they overcame.

In Laodocea, they were lukewarm and poor and blind, wretched and naked.  They were told to repent and if they overcame they would sit on the very throne of God and rule on the very throne of God itself.

What is this? It's all the same, it's all ONE!  It doesn't matter if you call it "losing your first love" - "the Nicolaitans" - "being faithful onto death" - "the depths of Satan" - "defiled garments" - "spiritually dead" - "lukewarm" - "Jezebel" - "Balam."  It doesn't matter, it's all the same sin, crime and corruption. What were they to do? Hold fast! Don't be taken away with all these winds of doctrines.  Repent, overcome and what do you get? The tree of life, the crown of life, the hidden manna, rulership in the Kingdom of God, the book of life, pillars in the temple of God, rulership from the throne of God. It's all the same! It presents it from different points of view, but it's ALL ONE!

The parables are all one.  Revelation is all one.

Then we come to the seals.
We got the white horse conquering, we've got the red horse, the second seal, sword killing. The third horse, black, famine. The fourth horse kills a fourth of the earth. The fifth seal, saints are killed. The sixth seal, men fearing from the wrath of God. The seventh seal, fire falls onto the earth. Then we get the trumpets. The first one, a third of the trees and grass dies. The second, a third of the seas and ships are destroyed. The third, a third of the rivers and fountains and stuff are polluted. The fourth one, the sun and the moon and the stars don't give their light. The fifth, the scorpions torturing and hurting mankind. The sixth, a third part of men are slain. The seventh seal, Christ returns.

Then we have the first woe, sores and horrible diseases and what not, for those who have the mark of the beast. Then the rivers and the fountain are turned to blood in the second plague. Then in the third one everything in the sea dies. In the fourth one the sun scorches men. In the fifth one, there's darkness and pain and suffering. In the sixth one, we have armegeddon. In the seventh one, we have earthquakes and fires and the mountains are removed.

It's all the same thing!

It's not talking about physical chronology or eschatology of the chronological order of events leading up to the return of Christ. This is for us, we've got to keep this. How do you keep the darkness?  How do you keep "everything in the sea dies"? How do you keep that? You have to know what it means... it's a symbol. He's signified this book in symbols. Why? So nobody on earth would ever understand it, except the very Elect. 

You can't understand this book. Scholars have poured over this for millions of hours. They cannot understand this book. This book is SPIRITUAL, these are spiritual words, these are symbols. They are all the same. It's not as hard as we thought when God's opens it up, it takes on a simplicity.

These mountains, what are mountains? These are mountains in our life, not mountains over there in the Rocky mountain chain.  These are mountains - HUGE things in our life that have to come down!

The sea is the flesh - humanity. Everything in the sea has to die! This isn't talking about killing fish in the Indian Ocean. Of what value is it to kill the fish in the Indian Ocean?

This is for us, the people who have the testimony of Jesus Christ have to live all this stuff. What is it? IT'S ALL ONE! It's just like the parables and all of those other things... tree of good and evil, the 5 wise and 5 foolish, the tares and the wheat and every parable and every teaching. It's all ONE! Directed toward us! All these things, the Old Testament, it's all for US!

1 Corinthians 10:11 And all these things happened to them as examples; and it is written for our warning on whom the ends of the world have come.

Why is all this Old Testament in here, hundreds and hundreds of pages... why is it in there?  Why was it preserved? Why was it so meticulously copied, letter for letter thousand and thousand... we have about five to ten thousand copies of the Greek scriptures. Some of them are recent, 1800-1900's. Some of them go back to the 4th and 5th century, really old.  Why... "For our admonition upon who the ends of the age have come..."

That's what the scripture says. Those people won't even be saved (in OT). It was not for their admonition, it's for OUR admonition.  They all died deceived. I mean people almost fall out of their chairs when I tell them that King David will not be in the Kingdom of God!  He was never converted, he was never born again, he was never begotten anew, he was never spiritually regenerated. His very dying words were, "Make it bloody, kill my enemies!" He told Solomon, "You're a wise man, you'll know how to do it, but make it bloody, I hate those guys..." Those were his dying words. Do people like that go into the Kingdom of God?  "But I say unto you, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES!" It was written for our admonition.

[Kat]

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Jesus Christ never converted a person in His whole ministry. It's just amazing. If you said that in a church they'd be throwing rotten tomatoes at you. But in His whole ministry Jesus Christ never converted one person! Not one!

The 11 second sinner's prayer... they have not a clue what they are talking about!!

When came around Pentecost time though, a whole bunch of them were converted, about 120 of them. But Christ was leading them up to that. He's probably leading some of us up to that.

All these things take a lifetime. We're going to live "the seals." A third part of the man died... that's a third part of the man in us that is going to die, a third part of the carnality. God works in increments, He wipes out some of the trees and then He burns some of the grass... what is the trees and the grass? These are all things in us. We have islands, and mountains, and trees, and grass. All of these are belief systems and ideas and doctrines and philosophies of life and all these things. They are all going to be burned out and broken down and destroyed. All of those seven seals, seven trumpets, seven plagues, they are all things that must happen in our lives.

You say, 'Well I don't remember any trees being burned down.' First of all, you won't even know some of it is happening until it's over. Some of you will remember, I have this in my Lake of Fire Series: "And I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day and I heard a voice BEHIND me as the voice of a trumpet and I turned to see the voice that spoke to me and being turned I saw..." You won't see some of these things until they are behind you. You're going to have to look behind you to see where you came from, to see where God has been taking you. Some of us wouldn't want to live tomorrow if we knew what was coming, you know. Be thankful that you don't know everything that's coming. Be thankful that you only have to take one day at a time. You don't want to know what every day has to hold. Take it one day at a time as God presents it to you.

There will come a time, when you can look behind you, as I can, and see where God's been taking you all these years. You'll see it plain as day. I could sit here for hours and tell you all about it. I can tell you about trees and grass and mountains coming down, I know what it means. It's all one, all this stuff. Are you getting it? It's all one thing. Whether you believe on Christ or enter the door of Christ or call upon the name of Christ or accept His grace through the faith of Christ, it's all one thing. It's all Christ coming to you, living His life in you!

You notice how many things in Revelation are described as "for a times, time and half a time" - "for a year, years, and half a year" - "for a season, seasons, and half a season" - "for 42 months" - "for 1260 days." How much is 3½ years, 3½ seasons, 1260 days and 42 months? How much is that? It's all the same! It's a symbol of something spiritual. I think I can prove, although it's not as easy as you might think, that Christ's ministry lasted 3½ years. You know how long that is? 42 months - 1260 days... Why do we have these, why are they in there? Why is that over and over in there? Because Christ lived in the flesh in his ministry for 1260 days, 42 months, 3½ years. He's going to live that ministry in us!

And that's why we live these things that take 42 months, 1260 days and 3½ years. And that 3½ years will be His ministry. Maybe it will take 4½ years to live His ministry in us, maybe it will take 40½ years... it's a symbol, however long it takes. It's going to go through this generation of believers and then this one, then this one and on and on because Jesus Christ is, was and will be. He's not in the past and coming again in the future, He's here now! He was here before and He'll be there in the future, He is, was and will be!

Well, I'll end with that.