Can a believer actually stop believing?

The following is a commentary based in response to Bertie Brits position on salvation, in which he states: “I do not believe the once saved always saved” thing. Further stating “I believe that a Christian can actually stop believing and as a result lose or walk away from there salvation.”

You can catch his take on this by going to: http://www.dynamicministries.com/index.php?option=com_preachit&id=606:falling-away-hebr-6&view=study&Itemid=138

There you will also find I and my wife’s contention. Please read the commentary I submitted to him via The Redemption Center entitled False Prophets, Ministers of Righteousness, Teachers of the Law. Believe me, Bertie was the last person we ever thought to take and support that position.

Enter Mark chapter 16:9-15. Here is what Jesus told the apostles regarding their unbelief and hardness of heart. “Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.’”

Notice He did not give up on them nor allow their carnal minds the opportunity to bind them in hopeless despair, but rather presented Himself alive in the fullness of His resurrection to personally remind them that they were His, further instructing them to continue in the ministry which He had entrusted them to preach. Jesus does not leave the believer to the whims, attitudes, or emotions of the carnal mind. He in fact does not leave us at all; claiming the victory for us even in the midst of the worst of Satan’s demonic oppressions. (Romans 8:31-39) (Col. 2:15)

Our faith is definitely responsible for voluntarily opening the door to our hearts, however, once this has occurred; it is not our faith that keeps Him there; but rather the working power of God through Christ in us. (Romans 10:9) (Phil. 2:13) (Gal. 3:6)

Authors note:

To say that our faith is responsible for keeping us saved is to deny that our faith is a gift from God; and to make statements such as ‘I will continue to the end based on my great faith’ nothing more than the dishonest boasting of a soul unaware of its own failings. (Eph. 2:8) Our faith is a gift from God, and we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus, and we are saved by His life. (Romans 5:10)

Commentary by:

George L. Miller

Romans chapter 13:1-7 – Ruling authorities!

I find the variables and complexities surrounding a common time application for Romans chapter 13 near insurmountable. However, based on what we do know, I believe it is safe to say that national Israel thought Jesus would actually restore them to physical power by means of political overthrow. Which of course we know did not happen. It is with this in mind that I state the following.

I believe what Paul was trying to get through to the saints is that you may not understand what is going on right now in terms of the big picture, but I can assure you that God does. Right now we are under Roman rule, and if it were not by the hand of God, He would have wiped them off the face of the earth. They are God’s ministers for now to impose some semblance of judicial law. And with that said, do the right thing according to that law, and do not try to overthrow them. Our job is to preach and teach Jesus, and in so doing establish the kingdom of God.

I believe the real problem with finding current application for Romans 13 can be found in the fact that Rome had not yet claimed any relation to God, whereas, at least in pretense the United States has. This is where the real conundrum begins as far as common time application is concerned. For it is one thing to claim a relationship with God, and an entirely different thing to actually have one. Please keep in mind that Paul was talking to the latter, i.e. to those who actually had a relationship with God in Christ. Reminding them primarily to keep the main thing the main and to be mindful of the things of God; in other words, stating: ‘We are ministers of the gospel of Christ.’

Now in lieu of what I have just presented, I am going to ask a few questions. I am not trying to be smart; I am simply trying to invoke serious thought. #1 – Based on Romans 13:1-7, what rights and responsibilities were the saints given in regards to facilitating and administrating a civil government? #2 – Do you think that God has changed His mind concerning the rights and responsibilities of the saints based on the assumptions of man? #3 – Based on what you understand of these passages in Romans; do you believe that the overthrow of King George was based on Christian principles? #4 – Do you believe that over the years these passages have been deliberately manipulated by those in power to carry out certain agendas?

All comments will be accepted! God speed!

Commentary by:

George L. Miller

What is the doctrine of Christ and what is our responsibility towards it?

The doctrine of Christ is comprised of His death, burial, and resurrection. Read I Corinthians chapter 15 and Romans chapter 1:1-6. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. (John 1:29) In Him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. (Eph. 1:7) He was offered once to bear the sins of man. (Heb. 9:28) He did this in accordance with the will of the Father, ‘Behold I have come to do your will O’ God. (Heb. 10:9) By that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Heb. 10:10) And through that will, God remembers our sins and lawless deeds no more. (Heb. 10:17) Once this offering was made and received by us, there is no longer an offering for sin. (Heb. 10:18) We have been perfected forever by the will of God. (Heb. 10:14) And we are held by the authority of Christ. (John 17:1-2) His work is finished. (John 17:3) We are new creations. (II Cor. 5:17) We are the righteousness of God in Christ. (II Cor. 5:21) We were made righteous through the righteous obedience of Christ. (Romans 5:19) We have been reconciled in the body of His flesh through death; that we are holy, blameless, and above reproach in God’s sight. (Col. 1:21-22) We are children of God. (John 1:12) We are heirs of both God, and the kingdom of God. (Romans 8:16-17) We are God’s elect. (Romans 8:33) And nothing shall separate us from His love. (Romans 8:39)

In short, the point should be clear by now! The doctrine of Christ is all about the 100% redemption of man. If you are in Christ, you are a forgiven person and you are eternally secure! And His death, burial, and resurrection are that assurance. Our only responsibility being that of belief; i.e. obedience to faith in regards to the finished work of Christ. In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the un-circumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. (Col. 2:11-15)

Authors note:

If a particular preaching or teaching does not sound like this, look like this, bring life like this; then it is not the doctrine of Christ..period! Here is what the apostle John said in reference to us concerning those who do not preach and teach the doctrine of Christ: ‘Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.’ (II John 9-11) Having both the Father and the Son means that one understands the fact that he has been completely reconciled to God in Christ; and as a result, fully comprehends from the heart the ministry he has been entrusted to preach and teach; which is of course the ministry of reconciliation through the life-giving spirit of Christ. Not that which is of the letter of the law,(Romans 8:2) but that which is of the spirit. For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.

(II Cor. 3:6)

Commentary by:

George L. Miller

P.S. This is not to say that I wouldn't invite someone into my house that had an a skewed view of the gospel. It is to say however that I would not repeatedly invite someone into my house to wrangle over the unprofitable use of the law. ‘But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they unprofitable and useless. Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.’ (Titus 3:9-11)

The man behind the mask!

Just beneath the skin of our western houses of worship, the ideological seeds of imperialism are watered and germinated. These seeds in turn growing to represent and foster the world wide empire of Babylon. The neo-conservative right-wing republican christianity so prevalent today merely being an elaborate mask the devil has deployed to hide his face. And though his presence is obvious for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, his rapacious and destructive appetites are appeased through those blinded by greed and the thirst for power.

Men and women that have been taken captive by him to do his will, and instructed to tell the world that it is in fact the will of God which demands the axis of evil be smashed. Ultimately hiding his real agenda which is world domination through economic sanction and occupation; the very power of Babylon itself. Which in essence is the nature of the beast; the man behind the mask.

'Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure, that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.' ~ James 4:1-4

'Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and there corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of the Sabbath. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in the day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the just; though he does not resist you.' ~ James 5:1-5

Authors note:
The cultures of the eastern world, as well as the people of the BRIC nations do not hate the west because of our alleged freedoms; but rather loathe it for it's role in capitalism gone wild. Which in the end has brought about some of the worst crimes against humanity the world has ever known. We are quick to call people terrorists and revolutionaries that are guilty of nothing more than fighting to retain some semblance of human dignity through the process of refining, mining, and distributing their own natural resources. A right which the power brokers of this world have succeeded in frustrating for centuries. The tool of course covert military de-stabilization, followed closely by regime change to outright occupation. This is the accepted protocol for replacing a leader unwilling to extort his own people for one that will. The terms and conditions of this new contract of course being pre-arranged by those who seek to gain the most.

Commentary by:
George L. Miller

P.S. If anyone is offended by what I have just written, please feel free to shoot your contention. I can assure you that my ambitions are not political. I am simply exercising the mind God has given me in Christ!