Words of Jesus Christ are in " Red " ~ Other scripture verses are in " Maroon " Koine Greek words are in " Purple " ~ Text in " Dark Blue " are highlighted points All scripture verses in this document are from the original 1611
I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior ....
Do you know why I feel that way ...... how can I " know " that I'm saved ?
Yes I can answer that question for you
You may be truly surprised that
And " who " you asked for Salvation is also important .....
So ..... Lets understand a few thing right off the bat concerning the Bible ..... If you are a " TRUE Fundamentalist ", as I am, you know that there are two important things concerning the Bible :
The question, " Am I really saved ? " is the number one question on " so many hearts " of those that proclaim to be Christians from around the world ! Many have been given a " false idea and faith " as to what it means not only to be " saved " but also " how to know that you are " ! The answer is basically " SO SIMPLE " but not the answer that most "Professing Christians" want to hear .... And unlike many articles that you will find on the web:  That is ..... I'm not going to " build up to a climax " so that you have to scroll down to find the answer like so many other " Teachers, Preachers, or Pastors do " ..... Then I'll go about " providing scriptures " to show that it is indeed what the Bible tells us .....  There are three things we must do:
" I've always been told that if I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior that the bible says that is " ALL " that I have to do and then I'll go to heaven. Even my pastor has told me that. What you are saying goes against everything I've been told ! "
Well I do understand that is what many of you have been told. And if we are to " Keep the commandments and words of our Lord Jesus Christ " that sounds like works doesn't it ?
After all .... we all know, or have heard, these verses:
Ephesians 2:8-9:
[ 8 ] For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
[ 9 ] Not of works, lest any man should boast.
John 1:12:
But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Romans 10:9:
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Many people are told, " in error ", to pray to Jesus and say to Him that they accept Him as their Lord and Saviour. But what does the Bible say about that ? Note this about our Lord Jesus Christ:
" Isn't this idea basically just merely a play on words ? So what if I asked Jesus to save me instead of God the Father ? Aren't they basically one and the same anyway ? " It is true that Jesus said " I and my Father are one. " [ John 10:30 ]. And we know that the " trinity " of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one ..... But still what did Jesus say in Matthew 6:6: pray to thy Father which is in secret and then in John 16:23: ye shall ask me nothing. So we do see that Jesus must have thought that once he was " gone " the disciples might try to pray to him which he apparently " didn't " want them to do ...... Consider the following story:
Now consider these verses prayed by our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father:
Just as the lawn mower was mine, and not my son's to lend out, so salvation is from God the Father since as Jesus said in verse 9 above, " but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. " And in verse 11, " those whom thou hast given me. " And finally in verse 12, " I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me.... " Listen ..... God the Father sent His Son Jesus Christ down to live with us to show us, by Jesus' example, how to live and also to be a ransom for many. God the Father provided us a way to escape being dead in our sins. The answer is:
There are " so many " denominations out there that centralize there worship on " Jesus Christ Only " ..... They tell you to pray to Him, be baptised only in His name, etc. Then in the other spectrum there are those that say to worship God the Father only and they basically leave Jesus out of it. Both views are cults ..... and not true Christianity because they do not follow the Bible ! Jesus Himself told us this:
We could also take the above verse " out of context " which could leave you to believe that if we honor the Son and the Father, and believe in them both ..... we would be " Born Again " into life eternal. But as I previously noted, we aren't taking verses out of context.
 You might have asked a pastor or someone else close to you why you felt that way. You were more than likely told to just have " faith " that you were saved. They told you:
" Don't worry about whether or not you feel saved. There are a lot of bible verses that tell you that you are now saved. You just have to have faith that you are. "
Wait a minute Paul ..... what do you mean some shall " depart from the faith " in the " latter times " ? I was told that once I truly accepted Jesus Christ as my " Lord and Savior " that that was all I had to do and that I was " saved " ! What does it mean that " some shall depart from the faith" ? How can people be part of the faith and then " depart " or leave that faith ?
Okay Paul .... for the second time you've said .....
before the last days people shall basically As a note the greek word used for " falling away first " is " apostasia " which is where we get the english word " Apostasy " ! Apostasy literally means, " to defect, or to forsake the faith ". So once again you might ask what does " falling away first " mean ? How can people be part of the faith and then " depart or fall away " or leave that faith as these two scriptures tell us ?
This book, and the study thereof, is avoided by not only everyday Christians .... but by " many pastors and teachers " ( and I use to be one of them ) of the word of God. Why is this book avoided by so many and why aren't there more people reading and teaching from Revelations ? Basically because John used so much " symbolism " within it that its hard to understand at times. However, is that truly a good reason not to study it more ? Do you realize that Revelations is the " ONLY " book of the bible that blesses those that read it and curses those that try to change it ?
Many people believe that " the book " that John is talking about in the above verses is the " Entire Bible " .... But in fact he is talking about the " The Book Of Revelations ". It's the last book in the Bible for two reasons. First it explains the end times and second is because it was the last book written by an Apostle.  " But did you also know that it reveals three other things as well ? " And they are:
If John wrote 5 books in the New Testament ( Gospel of John, I John, II John, III John, and Revelations ) and he wrote the Book of Revelations last ..... would it not stand to reason that " whatever " he wrote in Revelations " would not conflict in any way with his previous books ? " Remember the quote from the 1st chapter of John above:
So that would mean that whatever he says in Revelations would " INDEED " agree with what he wrote in the above verse. Now most people read the above last part of the verse to mean that " ALL " you have to do is " believe on his name " to become a son of God and go to heaven.  Remember this ..... Whenever you see a word in italics in the bible, such as the word " even " in the above verse ... " you must realize that it is not in the original greek text ". That is, it was added by the translators to " HOPEFULLY " make the verse more clear. So without the word " even " how does this verse read:
  Now we also note in the above Greek translation that the word " authority ", instead of " power " ( used in the KJV ) is used. Basically both words do mean the same thing. However I think that the word "authority" is much clearer. The Greek word used for " authority " is exousiazo {ex-oo-see-ad'-zo} which basically means " to have power or authority, or the ability to use the power ". So what is the verse actually telling us? Basically this:
 Please note that is " does not " say ( as many have been taught ) that you " become a Child of God " and therefore are " Saved " ! .... It says that you now have the " authority or ability " to be " Saved " and become a Child of God. The ability to be saved ( and go to heaven ) is another thing all together ! Consider this story:
So, using the above story, when we " believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God ", and when we pray to the Father and " receive Jesus Christ as our Saviour ", we now have the " authority " to become the Children of God !
First we notice in Rev. 14:12 that those that John saw in heaven ( here are they ) had two qualities, for the lack of a better way to put it: 1. - " they keep the commandments of God " and,
2. - had " the faith of Jesus " ( or excepted Jesus by faith ).
" WHO " John said had the right to the tree of life,
  " through out " the New Testament that back up what John said in Revelations about getting to Heaven !
But let me first ask you this .....
If so ..... Jesus told us how to prove that we do !
John 14: 15:
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
And John backed up what he said in Revelations and also about loving, or knowing, Jesus !
I John 2: 4-6:
[ 4 ] He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, IS A LIAR, and the truth is not in him.
[ 5 ] But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
[ 6 ] He that says he abides in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
James 2:14-19  The above section of James, and the below section on James 2:20-26, has troubled local and famous Pastors, Preachers, Evangelists, and Teachers and the vast majority of them avoid talking about it if at all possible. The hundreds that I've tried to talk to about it immediately become " uncomfortable " and start to " squirm in their seats " and it is all due to the greek word " works ". And I have to admit that at one time is also made me " uncomfortable " to talk about. The reason for the " uncomfortable " feeling is because so many pastors have used " John 3:16 " and " Ephesians 2:8-9 " ( shown below ), together to prove to folks " that all you have to do to be saved and go to heaven " is accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and as " Ephesians 2:8-9 " notes it is the gift of God: Not of works " ..... so therefore you only have to accept Jesus as your savior and you are heaven bound without doing anything else at all !  If we look at Ephesians below we see the greek word " works " is in fact used correctly as it should be ..... and that is for " physical labor ". However we can't take them out of context and must see how they apply to the rest of the Bible.
 Notice the change in the greek word " works " here shown in verses 14, 17 and the first two times in 18 from [ erga ] to the last part of verse 18 when he switches to [ epywv - more like a thought ] ..... James is starting to change his focus from " physical work " ( helping those who are naked and destitute of daily food ) to something very different .... And then along comes " James " .....
In the mid-1970's I attended, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, a bible study with a group of men who, for the most part, were all old enough to be my dad. The group included about ten men: a Catholic, a Methodist, three preachers ( one Pentecostal, one Baptist, and the other from an indepentant fundamentalist church ), but one man in particular was a member of the Greek Orthodox church named " Lou ". I learned more about Christianity from this group of men then I have anywhere else in my lifetime ..... " this group, you could say, were the foundation of my christianity ! " Now " Lou " became a very trusted christian friend and we always sat next to each other during these bible studies. He was from Greece and he read and spoke not only " Greek " but also " Koine Greek " fluently. When I first asked him, in the mid-1970's, to read James 2:2-26 in " Koine Greek " but to read them very slowly translating them into english for me ... he basically said " I've read them before and they are basically what is shown in the King James Bible. " He humored me and read them again ... When he got to " James 2:18 " he paused after reading it and said, " Something is different here . The first word for " works " denote physical labor but the second and third " works " actually is different and it seems as if he is talking about working through a thought ..... using his mind to work on or at something ..... or working mentally at something instead of purely physical labor. That is he's thinking through something. He then said, " Let me read all of James Chapter 2 again ..... " After him reading it all very slowly .... and then, as we started discussing it together, we came to the same conclusion that the second and third word " works " that was conveyed in " James 2:18 " was actually the word:
 We both were " extremely excited " about it and went on a further study to seek out this new idea for this word for " works " could be found through out the Bible. And yes we found it in other places within the Bible. But since that was in the mid-1970's there wasn't an internet to use as a resource ... but we started talking to many local pastor's and started looking in every commentary and study books we could find ... without any results. But we knew this word " works " in James meant " obedience ". Now years have gone by since my old friend has passed away and the internet is available .... and yes " we weren't the only ones to discover and find this answers ". These two different words, that were both originally translated into English as " works ", actually have two " very different meanings " and it changes " everything and makes it much clearer " as we see in James 2:20-26 below : James 2:20-26 Now whenever you see a commentary, or discussion, of Abraham and his willingness to sacrafice his son Issac ... and when you also see commentary on Ruth receiving the messengers .... it is always noted that they were basically being one thing:  So in James 2:14-18 he is talking about doing "physical work" ( helping your brothers and sisters in Christ ) and then in the last part of verse 18 he is talking about being " obedient to God". So James 2:18 should read this way: James 2:18 And in our Ephesians verse noted in the beginning of this article we see " works " is " epya ". So we are saved by " grace " and not by something we can physically do or accomplish.
So if we change the words " works " in James 2:20-26 to its intended interpretation " obedience " we see that it would change how the verses are read " drastically " and it would correctly read like this in english: James 2:20-26
Paul says in Romans that we are " justified " by our faith ....
if we are " justified " by our faith alone why do we need obedience ?
Which was brought to the forefront and taught by " Martin Luther that most don't know : "
The Catholic Church, at that time, taught that an individual could actually " purchase " freedom from God's punishment's for all of their sins through what the church called " Indulgence ". Basically the individual would give the Church money to be free from their sin's and punishment. After coming upon " Justification By Faith " in Romans Luther decided, without further investigation concerning Justification, that the Catholic Church was wrong and that the " Indulgence " was a false teaching ( which it indeed was and still is ). Luther also decided that if an individual had " faith only " in Jesus Christ that they needed " nothing else in order to go to heaven ". That is Martin Luther taught nothing about " accepting " or " receiving " Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, or for that matter about being " Born Again ". Luther was " so addiment " about salvation being " Justification by Faith Alone " that in his first printed version of the Bible, " to prove his point ", he " personally " added the word " alone " in Romans 3:28 so that it would read:
 His addition of the word was later stricken from all future bibles printed. However Luther was also " very strongly " against having the New Testament books of " Hebrews, James, Jude, and the Revelation of John " being in the Bible at all. ( Hmmmm .... two of these books disprove Martin Luther's theory of being " justified by faith alone " ).  plus some other verses used " out of context ", that the current church started the " FALSE " teaching of :  The idea of being simply " Born Again " after accepting Jesus Christ as our saviour ( which is true, "We Must Be Born Again" ) not only comes from Martin Luther's idea but also comes from many verses in the Bible used " out of context ", such as:
Have you ever read or heard this:
Now we come to a point that is so very clear in the bible and it concerns being " Born Again and / or Saved ".
And this verse from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is " Crystal Clear " and is the main point expressed in this article, " Am I Really Saved ! "
What did " Jesus " have to say about Obedience?:
Matthew 7:21-23
[ 21 ] Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, [ faith only ] shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven [ obedience ].
[ 22 ] Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name ? and in thy name have cast out devils ? and in thy name done many wonderful works ?
[ 23 ] And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
 In John Chapter 5 we have the story of Jesus healing a man that was waiting by the pool of Bethesda. Our Lord, after the healing, found the man once again in the temple in Jerusalem and said to him:
( You must believe and have faith in all three ! )
( Receive Jesus as your Saviour! )
( Faith without obedience is dead ! )
" Faith without Obedience is dead !" It may not be what you wanted to here .... " but I'm not the one telling you about this ..... " 
 
 Basic Training Send E-mail to Pastor Russ: webslave for Christ " or " ( russpickde@comcast.net )
This Article Last modified: " Sunday, January 2, 2022 "
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