What if you are not really "saved"?

When I was a kid, I remember asking the question, “How do I know I am saved?” and the Sunday School teacher said, “confess with your tongue and you will be saved!” Well, even back then, I knew there surely had to be more to it than just saying, “I believe!” I knew that it had to be in my heart….it had to be in how I lived, how I studied, how I spoke.

Centuries ago, the Egyptians knew that the human heart had to be weighed. Even though they were pagan, they knew

How did they know? They knew because they studied the stars and they knew the meanings of the star names.

From the constellation Libra – the ancient star names:

Zuben el Genubi “the price deficient” (the heart)
Zuben el Shemali “the price which covers” (the cross)
Zuben Akrabi “the price of the conflict”

They knew they had to weigh their heart against evil.

Jer 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?”

Matt 15:18 “But the-(things) proceeding-out out-of the mouth (are)-coming-out out-of the heart, and-these-(things) (are-defiling the MAN,
Vs 19 For out-of the heart is-coming-out evil deliberations, murders, adulteries, prostitutions, thieveries, false-witnessings, blasphemies.

PS 14:1 “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.”

Eccl 10:2 “A wise man’s heart is at his right hand; but a fool’s heart at his left.”

Let’s put your heart to a test and see what you believe and if you are saved.

SCRIPTURE:

Rom 3:1 “What therefore the advantage of-the Jew or what the profit of-the circumcision? Vs.2 Much according-to every manner. For first on-the-on-hand because they-were-trusted (with) the oracles of-the God.”

Not one word of scripture has been given by God to any but Jews. Do you believe that? In one stroke, that shows Mormonism and Islamism to be wrong.

And if you do not believe scripture you have no promise of eternal life.

EVOLUTION:
Gen 1:27 “And God created man in his own image…male and female created he them.

Jesus speaking in Mark 10:6 “But from beginning of–creation the God made them male and female.”

A person who knowingly accepts and believes the lie of evolution does NOT believe scripture and is NOT “saved”.

THE FLOOD:
Gen 7:19 “….and all the high mountains that were under the whole heaven were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth….and every man:”

If you do not believe in a universal flood, you do NOT believe in scripture and you are NOT “saved”.

JESUS IS JEHOVAH (GOD)
Matt 12:8 “For the son of-the MAN is Jehovah also of-the Sabbath.

Mark 1:3 “Voice of-one-shouting in the wilderness, YOU-prepare the way of-Jehovah, YOU-be-making direct his paths.

Luke 2:11 “That (a) Savior was-brought-forth for-YOU today, in (the) city of-David, who is Messiah Jehovah.

I Cor 12:3 “On-this-account I-am-making-known to-YOU that not-one speaking in (the) Spirit of-God is-saying: Anathema Jesus, and not-one is-being-able to-say: Jehovah Jesus unless in (the) Holy Spirit.”

Phil 2:11 “And every tongue might-acknowledge that Jesus Messiah (is) Jehovah with-reference-to glory of-God (the) Father.”

Jesus is Jehovah the son, the creator. If your heart recognizes, even a little, who Jesus is you would not likely refer to him “as the man upstairs”, and you would not use blasphemous statements such as “Give Jesus a hand” or “clap for Jesus”. How many times have you done that in your church? Jesus IS Jehovah God and should be revered.

If you do not believe that Jesus IS God, then you are not “saved”.

VIRGIN BIRTH:

Matt 1:23 “Behold, the virgin will-have in womb, and she-will-bring-forth (a) son, and they-will-call his name Emmanuel, which is being-translated, the God with us.”

If you do not believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, then you are not “saved”.

SPECIFIC SINNERS:

I Cor 6:9,10 “Or, are YOU not knowing-absolutely that unjust (ones) will not inherit (the) Kingdom of-God? You-be not being-led astray; neither male-prostitutes nor idolaters nor adulterers nor catamites nor homosexual-males. Vs.10 Nor thieves nor covetous (ones) not drunkards, not revilers, not seizers will-inherit (the) Kingdom of-God.”

Verse 11 clearly states if you were among these listed you can be saved. But if you are still doing these things, then you are not saved. You cannot have a homosexual preacher! Well, you can have one, just know that he is NOT saved!

And if you believe that a homosexual, a prostitute, someone who worships idols, someone who is an adulterer, a thief, covetous, an alcoholic, a reviler…….if you believe that they are saved, then you do NOT believe scripture and you are NOT saved!

GOD LOVES EVERYONE:

PS 5:5-6, PS 11:5-6, 1John 2:15-16, John 3:36, Heb 12:5
All of these verses point to the WRATH of God. It is ever so clear that God does NOT love everyone. It is extremely clear that the ones disobeying the Son of God will have the wrath of God on them. And be sure to read these verses in the consistent translation, not in some mixed up translation that will lead you to believe it’s something other than what’s really written in scripture. Paul warned of this in Acts 20:29-30.

If you believe that God (Jesus) loves everyone, then you do not believe scripture and you are not saved.

We can divide Biblical truth into groups in order to determine where a person stands and to determine if he is a member of the body of Christ:

Group 1 – very clear
A. Believes in evolution or
B. Does not believe in a universal flood or
C. Does not believe in the virgin birth of Jesus or
D. Does not believe in the resurrection of Jesus

He is a “false-brother”, he is not saved, he is not a member of the “body” and you should have no fellowship with him/her.

Group II – more difficult to determine (disbelief might be due to ignorance)

A. All scripture entrusted to the Jews
B. Jesus is Jehovah the son, the creator together with the Father
C. Persons practicing sin; idolaters, adulterers, homosexual-males, etc. are not “saved” (but can be). They will not inherit the kingdom of God
D. God does NOT love everyone.

If you believe these premises, you are saved. If you did not know this is what scripture teaches, you do now and if you continue to have your disbelief, then you do not believe scripture and are not “saved”.

Group III – very clear
A. Millennium – Matt 5:5, Matt 6:9, Matt 12:32, Matt 17:10-11, Matt 19:27-28, Matt 24:30-31, Acts 1:6-7, Acts 2:29-31, Acts 3:20-21
If you believe scripture, then you believe there will be a millenniun
B. Amillennalist: does not believe in a millennium, does not believe in scripture. Is not saved.

Weigh your own heart. Weigh it against scripture. If you truly believe in Jesus and accept him as the Messiah, how can you not believe what all of scripture states? And yes, you may have a pastor who is leading you down some path of disbelief or alternative belief, but you can choose the fork in the road and decide to create your own path by studying what was actually written and how translations have changed the original text. But most of scripture is extremely clear – it’s just that we listen to someone else’s ideas about it rather than studying to find out what the truth is.

Matt 15:18-19 – whatever comes out of your mouth is coming out of your heart.

I think it’s really clear how to tell if you are saved or not….and it’s equally clear how to tell if your friends and family are saved.

My Sunday School teacher was wrong. You can’t just “say” that you are “saved” and it will happen.

You MUST study scripture to know what it takes to be saved. You must believe that scripture is the Word of God. Your heart must know it so that the words will come out of your mouth! That’s what it takes to be “saved”.

What if your "pastor" is not a pastor?

One day in 10th grade English class, the teacher was having us write out definitions of words, or conjugating verbs or some such nonsense. I can't remember exactly what it was. We were all beyond bored with our homework. We were all miserable. We just were not learning a single thing by doing such repetitive stuff. So, we all got together and each one of us did one paragraph, then copied our work....so that there were 10 or so matching papers. We thought it was a brilliant idea.

We all got Fs and our parents were called to school.

I asked the teacher what difference it made? She said there were 2 things. One, I needed to learn to simply follow the rules. And two, I needed to write my own answers because once in awhile it might be different from someone else and everyone might learn something from what I wrote.

I learned a few things that day. Never cheat. It's just not worth it! Write what you think - it really isn't always the best thing to write what you think others want you to write.

She was a teacher. She took the time to answer my questions. Good or bad, right or wrong....she was a teacher.

I usually learned something new just about every day in school. Now remember, I've said that I went to Sunday School, church, evening church, Wednesday prayer meeting, Thursday Bible study, weekend youth group and every evening when there was a revival we were at the church.

Did I learn something new every time? Hardly! Why? Because none of my questions ever got answered? No, because my "pastor" was not a teacher and therefore, not called to the ministry. It was merely an income for him, a "job". Is your pastor a shepherd and teacher? How can you know?

First, the word "pastor" is nowhere in scripture. It is a translation of a word that means "shepherd".

Eph 4:11 says in the consistent translation:

And he himself gave
on-the-one-hand THE apostles,
on-the-other-hand THE prophets,
on-the-other-hand THE bringers-of-good-news,
on-the-other-hand THE shepherds and teachers.

I love the consistent translation because you can SEE what is there and what isn't there. In Greek, the word "the" is "tous". And in the Greek text, the word "tous" is there!

So what is different about each line and each noun above?

There is NO article "THE" before "teachers" in the last line.

This would mean that shepherds and teachers are one in the same. A shepherd has to teach and a teacher has to shepherd. They are one and the same person.

I am not a Jehovah's Witness, but their Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scripture has:

And he gave
the indeed apostles,
the but prophets
the but evangelizers
the but shepherds and teachers

At least they have left the word "the" in the interlinear.

An online Greek interlinear has:

And same gives
the indeed apostles
the yet prophets
the yet well-messengers
the yet shepherds and teachers

The King James translated the word "shepherd" to pastor. While there are 3 interlinears that show the word is shepherd, the KJ changed the word to pastor. And all 3 interlinears show that the article "THE" is missing before the word "teacher".

So in the KJ, it reads:

And he gave
some, apostles:
and some, prophets;
and some, evangelists;
and some, pastors and teachers;

Why did the KJ leave OUT the article? What good is an article? It is a pointer. IF you studied English in high school, you will know that "the" is a definite article that points to the noun that follows it. For example, "let's read the book" means a specific book. "let's read a book" means any book. And what sense does it make to leave it out: "let's read book"?????

I believe that the apostles put every single word into the Greek text by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. What right does a human man have to remove it? How can anyone claim that the King James version of the Bible is the "inspired" or "only" version? (OK, that's a whole new "if-ism"!)

Back to this "if". If a shepherd and teacher are one and the same, then if your pastor (shepherd) is not a teacher, then he was never called to the ministry.

90% of the pastors are NOT teaching today. Thus they were never called to the ministry. What are the chances that you attend a "church" with a pastor who was not called to the ministry? Pretty good I imagine!

Now, you may think your pastor is teaching. But pay attention.

Does he leave the pulpit when a guest pastor is there? (I think he would be wanting to know what someone else is teaching, don't you?) Probably not a teacher.

Does he answer your questions with scripture references.....or with words that will attempt to make you feel good? If he doesn't answer with scripture, he's probably not a teacher.

Do you attend one of those places where the pastor seems to be more interested in numbers - who can get the biggest attendance by getting the people riled up, excited, "all shook up"? If you are just there to get excited, you probably are NOT learning much of anything. He's probably not a teacher.

Ask to attend a staff meeting. Listen to what they are doing to gain attendance. Might change how you think about your "church".

Consider Eph 4:14 where it states in the KJ:

That we, henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

If you attend one of those places where they work hard to get you all excited, then you are like a child, being led around....and I think it is Satan who is deceiving you. He (Satan) certainly doesn't want you to learn anything about what the Bible really has to say. He'd much rather have you all excited, singing, crying, jumping up and down, waving your hands.....BUT

what did you learn?

Did the shepherd (pastor) TEACH you anything? Anything that is actually in the Bible? Anything other than how to make it through the next week?

Interesting, huh?

Oh, and not just church, you should be learning in Sunday School as well. You should learn every time you step foot into the place.

If your shepherd (pastor) is a teacher, then I would think that he/she would be teaching you scripture. And not a translation of what someone else thought scripture said. I think they would get to the Greek and Hebrew texts and show you the real meaning of each and every word that was in the original text. It is truly an amazing study!

The sad truth is that 90% of the "pastors" were never called to the ministry. They never had a teacher who was a shepherd and they never learned what the scripture really has to say. It is a job to them.

I know a pastor who flys to Las Vegas to drink and gamble but says "don't tell anyone". He has over 15,000 people in his "church".

I know a pastor who says he understands what I am saying with my if-isms, but that the people who listen to him would never believe him, so he won't "teach" it. He maybe has 200 people in his "church".

I know a pastor who is gay and believes he is a "holy" man. Again, a "church" of about 3000.

I know a pastor who can get you so riled up you will be in tears and walk out thinking you just experienced the most moving, fulfilling day of your entire life - but he never said one word about the Bible. His "church" has about 2000.

I know a pastor who will let everyone get up and say anything they want and then he will read for 10 minutes from a daily devotional. He has a "church" of about 50.

I don't attend "church" today because I'm pretty certain none in my area have shepherds (pastors) who are teachers. And I think most are filled with Satan and his deception. (again, another If-ism)

And not a single one of them (pastors) will ever teach you anything that is actually in scritpure.

If your pastor is not a shepherd, if your pastor is not a teacher, if your paster was never called to the ministry, how do you ever expect to learn anything?

I once read a quote that said, "My mind is made up, don't confuse me with the facts!" Is that you? Your mind is made up and you don't really want to know what scripture has to say? You "think" you know all the facts and there is nothing else you need to learn?

So if you know all that, perhaps you can answer my question - why did the translators of almost every Bible out there leave out the article and change the word shepherd to pastor and NOT tell us that a shepherd has to be a teacher and a teacher has to be a shepherd and that if they are not, they were not called to the ministry and if you attend a "church" where you do not learn what scripture really has to say, then you are most likely being deceived as it clearly states in Eph 4:14?

OK, you don't really have to send me an answer. I already know it is Satan's way of deceiving you. Just food for thought with another one of my "ifs".

So, now, IF you know that your "church" or your "pastor" are not teaching you what scripture really states, WHY are you still attending there? For years, I told myself I simply went to church to fulfil a social need, or to sing in the choir, to teach my sons. What a cop-out that was! I went because Satan had me in his lure and I couldn't get out. That "preacher" made me feel good about myself. He made me walk away elated. But I certainly was NOT learning anything about scripture.

13 years later, I am finally on a path where I am actually studying scripture. I am LEARNING what it says. I am sorting out the mistakes, errors and ommissions of the King James and other translations. I am excited and elated and uplifted daily because I am learning something new every single time I study. The "choir" is now my song to Jehovah. My socialization is with others who truly study scripture in it's original format (Greek and Hebrew). My writing here - an effort to leave a legacy to my sons. So that they may come to know Jehovah Jesus Messiah the way I do. Praise Jehovah!