I am so grateful that you chose to visit this web-site. Thank you for your interest in this ministry. I am assuming that you came to this web-site because you have heard about or know of the love of God, and are unafraid to face the truth?? I am also assuming that you are reading this because you are not afraid to munch on some food for thought?? If this is true then all I ask is that you chew a little bit on what is being said here. If it agrees with you, swallow a little, if it doesn't, spit it out. That's all I ask.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

(Make no mistake though, the purpose of this ministry is not geared toward ones self-improvement or in why or how you should become more religious, but simply in knowing Christ intimately for yourself thus being set free from all that binds you! So, if you came here in order to find out what constitutes Eternal Life, and what such a Life is all about, then this is the site for you....)

Dear friend,
how about some food
for thought?

- Dear Friend -
The God of the Scriptures says:
Romans 3:19-20 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

God's laws/commandments were given to be kept and obeyed and not to be broken! So if you've ever broken the law: If you've ever stolen, that makes you a thief - If you've ever lied, that makes you a liar - If you've ever had lust in your heart and slept with someone who isn't your wife, then you are an adulterer - even the thought of how nice it might be to have sex with that certain person (who isn't your spouse), makes you an adulterer... and so on.

Now we have all done these things to some degree and we all are guilty of breaking God's commands - however - according to God, break one of these laws of His just one time (read Romans 3:19-20 again), and we stand guilty, without any hope, before Him. The law wasn't given so that if we should keep it we could be justified by it. There's nothing that WE (in or of ourselves) can do that would save us and undo the sin... nothing.
All men die physically (because of sin), and without Christ all men die spiritually (separated from God) as well (again, because of sin caused by our rebellion). God's law is holy. Break it one time and what it gives us is the knowledge that we have sinned against God. Only God's Son can save us from all sin!

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

It is critical to understand that -good men- do not enter heaven, nor do those who -try- and be good! Heaven is only for new men, saved men, x-sinners who have become convicted of sin and have repented of (turned away from) their sins, turned to Christ and have become born again, through the love, grace and mercy of God.
Please understand this: Heaven is not entered into by our own merits or goodnesses or magic potions or church memberships, but only through Christ in His love and obedience to the Father, by our faith in Him as we stand on His merits and accomplishments alone!

Therefore, being good :-) , bad :-( , or even ugly ;~{ , doesn't matter at all. What matters to God is whether you have been made righteous in His eyes by having the Son alive in you --- or remain unrighteous by not having Him. It's as simple as that! It's all that matters:

Romans 3:21-23 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Romans 3:10 There is none righteous, no, not one:

Galatians 2:21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by my keeping the law, then for me Christ has died in vain.

The ONLY way into heaven is through ones personally becoming convicted of sin, of righteousness and of the judgement (John 16:8), thus stand guilty before Him with no hope of escape (in or of ourselves) because of breaking His Holy Law! There is no escape, no easy payments for breaking His holy law. Nothing short of death is required! Upon our being made aware of this we become repentant of our sins and begin to look for a way out of our dilemna: "Who can save me??"

That's when we spot Christ! (I mean, Really spot Him!) and come to wholly trust in Him alone as God's only way to salvation... and this is exactly what happens when that person HEARS the Gospel, as if for the first time, talking to them personally. They believe on Him and repent of (i.e. 'turn away from') their sins, and 'Come' to Him, is when He comes to them and saves them as well.... and in so doing their sins are forgiven, they are born again and are made righteous and glorified IN Him as well (Romans 8:17).

What all of this means is that you and I, dear friend, can forget all of our own works, luck, or attempts at gaining heaven our way and simply come to fully rely on and yield soley upon the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work to get us there! God chose Him to be the scapegoat (the way out) for all who believe on Him.

Believers are the ones who should have died for their sins; right along with the unbelievers, but instead He made Jesus Christ to die in our place, because of OUR sin. God worked everything out and we need to come and HEAR The Gospel that He has indeed done so, and instead of our dying alone and going to hell because of our breaking the law, we (who believe) have died with Him on the Cross. We are put IN His death by faith through God. In Him we have really and truly died to sin (Romans 6:2), as well as our being in His resurrection from the dead. (Read Romans 6:1-14) Now He lives - and lives in us! He alone is The Way, The Truth and The Life!

Of all the works done towards salvation, the Father accepts the sacrifice of His Son alone as the only payment for our sins. Do you believe this? Can you (or rather can 'Christ' in you) live this? Or are you still Religious??? Still trying to work and earn your way into heaven even a little bit through your own goodness and righteousness? Are you still trying to please God through yourself, under your own power? Well it's time to end the not knowing if you are good enough or not!!! The truth is - You Never were! - but Christ and Him alone is and always was!

---

What follows are some of the differences between what religion says and what God says...

Now in His word God doesn't say, "he who trusts in priests, or prophets, or does penances, or says prayers, or is personally religious, or dies trying to be good, has eternal life."
Nor does He say, "he who participates in church services, or sacraments, or does confessions, or goes to church, or is charitable, or sheds tears, or even performs rituals or miracles, or makes an attempt to reform his life, has eternal life."

What God wants us all to know and understand is this:
"God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
Therefore he that has the Son has life; and he that doesn't have the Son doesn't have life." I John 5:11.12

"He who has the Son has this 'eternal life'; and he that doesn't have the Son doesn't have this 'eternal life' that God Himself is speaking of through His disciples!"

What a tremendous night and day difference this is from our being Religious but not right with God!!! Eternal life is there for the taking! God makes it all so clear, so simple!
It's all a matter of who has and who does not have the Son that determines whether or not we have life eternal! (Burn that sentence into your memory!)

It's NOT WHAT WE DO or WHAT WE don't do that counts, - it's NOT HOW MUCH WE KNOW or don't know, - it's NOT a matter of HOW MANY GOOD WORKS THAT WE we've done or haven't done, - it's NOT a matter of OUR TRYING TO BE GOOD or of OUR not trying to be anything, - but it's WHO WE HAVE AND KNOW verses WHO WE DO NOT HAVE AND KNOW that counts - - and we're NOT talking about having RELIGION here - but it is all a matter of our having and knowing CHRIST or not, personally! He is it!!!

Christ can only be had and known in a personal way through Faith, the kind of "hearing faith" which comes from our personally hearing Him speak to our hearts by way of our Hearing the word of God come alive in us as if it were the first time we heard Him, and laying hold of Him. He is there, alive in the words of the Gospel. But do we Hear HIM - or do we hear only what WE want to hear??

Jesus simply asks: "WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?". Peter answers: "YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD!"

The 'Knowledge of Him' can be arrived at in one of two ways: Through Flesh and Blood (mans fallen intellectual knowledge) or through having a revelation of Him by God! (Matthew 11:27; 16:15-17)
Either we can learn all About Him through outside sources (i.e. from human sources other than God) and try and believe what we hear About Him (which doesn't carry any life-changing power) -OR- we can come to Hear and KNOW Him in Spirit and in Truth as He really is Personally, and Believe on Him without a doubt by divine revelation. (Matthew 16:16-17) This is what it means to HAVE HIM.

It is the "Personal Knowledge of Him" that brings us Eternal Life through Salvation, while the other - our Carnal knowledge of Him - (which allows US to continue to live and have our being in ourselves, because it has no Power to change us) only assures spiritual death with it through the lust of the eyes, the flesh and the pride of life, including any and all self-gratifying religious type works done to preserve the self. Jesus says emphatically that we MUST be born again! (John 3:3) Why is that? Simply because... "Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God!" (1 Cor.15:50)

John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

In order to become Born Again our Old Man of flesh needs to be put to death with Christ, Now, Today, because in and of ourselves we come up short and there is nothing worthy of pleasing God in us... "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." (Romans 8:8)... "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" (Romans 3:23). At that time we will receive a New Man, a Spirit-filled man, born after God's own heart. "The Revelation Of Christ" does just this! Death to the old and Life to the new all occur through having faith, by receiving the revelation of Him!

Which is it to be? "Christ", in total trust of Him and all that He has done - or "Religion", and partly trusting in its rituals, in us, and what we have done or should be doing as well?

- Below are listed some clear differences between the two -

RELIGION involves all that "I" can do for God.
SALVATION involves all that "God" has done for me.

The Scriptures say, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;" Titus 3:5

RELIGION tries to furnish a sacrifice in place of the already finished one.
SALVATION trusts only in the finished sacrifice.

John 19:30 says, "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said. "It Is Finished: and he bowed his head. and gave up the ghost."

RELIGION is "me" trying to improve "my old nature".
SALVATION is "God" crucifying my Old Nature and imparting into me a New Nature through receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

The Word of God tells us in John 1:12, "As many as received him (Christ), to them gave he power to become the sons of God."

RELIGION depends on the goodness of "my" character.
SALVATION depends on the Sacrifice of the Cross.

"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved is the power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18

RELIGION says: Something in my hand I bring.
SALVATION says: Nothing in my hand I bring.

Ephesians 2:8.9 says, "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."

RELIGION clothes us with the tattered robes of our own making - with our own righteousness.
SALVATION clothes us in the perfect righteousness of Christ, who alone makes us acceptable and blameless in the sight of God.

God's Word tells us in Titus 3:5, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us."
and God tells us in Isaiah that, "our own righteousness is as a filthy rag". Isa. 64;6

RELIGION tries to bring us from darkness to light but fails.
SALVATION not only frees us but brings us from death unto Life.

John 5:24 says, "He that heareth my Word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."

- and finally -

RELIGION cannot give you the necessary personal life-changing revelation of Christ.
SALVATION gives direct evidence to our spirit that this same Christ who died is now alive and well and sitting on the throne of Glory (Romans 10:9; 1 Cor.15:17).

Remember what God was saying? "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1)

* He saith unto them, "But whom say ye that I am?"
And Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
And Jesus answered and said unto him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven". Matthew 16:15-17

* "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1:8

* But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13

- Some Notes on John 1:12-13 and 1 John 5:12 -

To such as receive him in every age he gives Power to become the children of God.
Even to them that believe on his name.

The believer only becomes the child of God at the moment of inception (i.e. "at the new birth"), where he receives Power from on High (i.e. "The Holy Spirit") who then takes and makes him a child of God. It is the Spirit who makes us one, and proves to others (by our witness to Him ) who also have the Spirit that we are indeed a child of God.

When a person "hears" the Gospel and believes in Christ with genuine faith, then through such a faith springs forth the Power of God, who in turn leads that person to yield themselves to God and receive the Word into their heart.

- So don't be like those who may seem "Religious" but are really unsaved-

* Isaiah 29:13 - Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

* 2 Timothy 4:3 - For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

* Titus 1:16 - They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.

* Matthew 23:28 - Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

* 2 Timothy 3:5 - Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

* Luke 6:46 - And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

- In Conclusion -

So the difference between those who are Religious and those who are Saved comes down to the haves and the have nots - to those who have or don't have the Son. (1 John 5:12)
"True Religion" boils down to One Thing: "He who has Christ and Him alone have everything!"

We see that our being "Saved" has absolutely nothing to do with our joining some church or some religious denomination. It has nothing to do with how good we try to be in order to stay on God's good side. It has nothing to do with our signing an acceptance card or walking an isle or making a confession to a priest. Instead we see that it's all about God's Son, JESUS CHRIST, and whether we have Him or not!?

Now, how about... YOU? Ready to chew some more???

Are you ready to receive His gift of abundant life???

Dear friend, I already told you what you needed to hear! Realize too that "Faith" isn't something that "we" can take and muster up of our own power and use any time we feel like it, but it comes ONLY when one HEARS/UNDERSTANDS the words of The Gospel... and you have heard the words. I can only pray that you understand what it is that I have been saying.
Hebrews 11:1 says - "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Faith is powerful and real and alive! It's not dead, nor is it blind! It holds substance, brings forth reality and contains in it the evidence of the things of God. His word can only be substantiated by faith. So by all means, have the words you just read substantiated! Be assured!

Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:6
and...
"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him...." John 6:44
and...
"Verily, verily I say unto you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. John 5:24

That phrase: "believes in Him" is one of power, power that only comes through a Spirit-given-understanding and a right-response to the Gospel (as presented in His Word whether preached, taught or read). The Spirit convinces us of our sin as well as a deep recognition of our own depravity (as seen in the light of God's Holiness). If it be your choice, He in turn gives us the wherewithal and the willingness to come to God, repent of our sins, and surrender our life into the hands of the sovereign Lord.

In other words (and I do want to make this very clear), believing or having faith in the gospel is not simply a human or moral decision that just anyone can make whenever "they" feel like it! It's not enough to believe that God exists; for, as James (2:19) points out, "Even the demons believe—and tremble!"

Saving faith is given to us (draws us) to believe in Him by God's grace; because Jesus Christ is His undeserved gift to sinners. Only through the Revelation Power of His Word and Spirit can we understand our own sin and needs (John 16:8) and be made to know, come and trust the wonderful truth about the son of man and His death, and the Son of God and His resurrection, in Who He is and the wonderful Good News that He has brought to us and done for us.

So... if God is drawing you to Himself and you long to receive the cleansing, forgiveness and eternal life that He freely offers through the Cross to us who believe on Him, then simply trust Him to show you the way to receive His offer - and He will. Then you can begin by putting your mouth where your heart is and receive the promised Holy Spirit by repenting of your sins, confessing Him before men, following Him, thanking Him and praising Him... now and forevermore.

May every blessing in Christ be yours,
Biff & Suzanne

For more on what we've been saying:

Jesus instead of Religion... 10 Reasons See WHY we all Must be Born Again !!!