I BELIEVE

What's written below has been something I realise I should've done a while ago. Acceptance of someone's teaching is and should always be dependant on what they believe about the Word, especially the fundamentals of the faith. As such, no doubt a fair few people have thought various things about what I might believe about the essentials of the faith (based on what I write), and as such, have probably decided whether or not they'll even view most of the stuff I write, and no doubt have been angered by a few things I've written. I don't hold that against them because I'm am very particular about what I believe, and really, the Word says that we should all be those that hear the Word eagerly but then go back to check and see if those things are true (REFERENCE). So I write the following so that, after you've finished reading, you can decide for yourself whether, based on the Word, I should be someone that would be beneficial for you to listen to for your spiritual health. Not that my words have any power or goodness of themselves, but that, if anything is based on the Word, the Spirit is the one who is always faithful to bring life and honour and glory to Jesus and to affect our lives for the better. Anyway, the following lays out the fundamentals about what I believe. It is also based on the heart and passion I believe the Lord has given me for spiritual things, particular the area of how He disciplines and the place of judgment in the Christian life after the cross of the Lord. I realise that it may seem strange to many that He's given me a passion for such a thing, believe me, it also seems strange to me, and it's not necessarily something I would've chosen to be passionate about myself, however, I know I just have to be faithful with what He's given me. Plus, that isn't the only thing He's made me passionate about, as I really love to encourage the body of Christ in different aspects of the truth, even amongst teachings of discipline etc.


For every aspect of my belief below, I've tried to give a scripture so that you can see the reason why I believe such a thing. Hopefully it gives you, not only an idea of what I believe about the Word, but also where my heart is at with such things, and especially where my heart is about the people that God loves; His Church and Bride:


I believe that people are saved by faith in Christ alone, and that such a thing is the gift of God, it is not something that a person gives themselves. I believe that God is the author of salvation. I believe that man must respond to the prompting of God to accept Jesus, and that, while God knows what they'll choose, He has still given men a choice of whether to accept Him or not. However, I also believe that the evidence of true faith is the fruit of the Spirit. They that say that are His must flee sin (a lifestyle and continually practice of sin), and they will do this naturally because of the Spirit of Christ, but they still have a choice in the matter too, to respond to the grace and inner workings of God upon their will.


I believe that 90% of Christians are the type of Christians that, although weak and sinners, are the kind of Christians that seek to follow the Lord with all their heart, or if not, are the kind of Christians that follow Christ as best as they can, even though they may struggle and stumble. These kind of Christians the Lord deals graciously and mercifully with, and although every Christian must face discipline in the form of trials (Hebrews), which the writer calls 'judgment' to make us more like Christ, this isn't the kind of judgment where God is striking someone down whenever they sin. Though these kind of Christians get it wrong and are sinners by nature, they do not set their heart s on sinning on a continual basis, they don't plan to direct their entire lives on a pursuit of sin, and therefore these kind of Christians do not experience the 'drastic' forms of unique judgment that some in the New Testament did experience when they did such a thing. I believe that, even those these kind of Christians (the 90%), will never experience drastic forms of judgment in order to be disciplined by God, it is still important that they hear about the warnings that are given in the Word about such things, just as God intended that all His people hear about such things for their spiritual health and to ensure they offer the right kind of service and worship in their lives.

I believe that, while God disciplines this 90% through trials in order that we kept safe in our salvation and practically become more like Christ (since positionally in Christ we are already perfect in the eyes of God because of the imputed righteousness of Christ), I believe that He doesn't act to strike out against us if we sin in single or few circumstances. Rather, God is patient and compassionate, merciful and LONGSUFFERING, and doesn't usually act quickly in this regard. On the contrary, God is very patient with us, and prefers to woo His people to His side and to woo them to follow Him with 'bands of love'. God's heart is for His people, not against them because of Jesus Christ. The lost sheep He goes out to find, not with a rode of anger, but with a heart full of compassion and mercy. That doesn't scrap the need to repent, as the Holy Spirit will naturally lead us to such a thing, but those that sin have an advocate with the Father: 1 John 2:1- 'My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.' Rather than looking to hurt us, Jesus looks to be the defense of His people. Rather than being an accuser, Jesus seeks to be the advocate of those that are His, and His blood ensures our defense and our acceptance with the Father. The Lord usually gives much time in His mercy and grace before He will come with warning and then with subsequent action to get us to turn from our sin (sometimes it can be quick however, it depends on what He wills and what He knows will work best with each and every Christian)


I believe that 10% of Christians are the type that do need specific teaching about the discipline/judgment of the Lord in order to remain following the Lord with all their heart and to be kept from a lifestyle of sin. I also believe that at one time or another it is very likely that the other 90% of Christians will be included in the 10% category, for however long that may be in their lives, and as such, do benefit from hearing what warnings about discipline/judgment exist in the Word. As a part of this, the warnings about apostasy are also needed because there are example of a few in the Word that did reject God, even after they accepted God at one time and even taste the powers of the age to come. However, I believe that the Word shows us that apostasy in the New Testament was extremely rare. The only acception to this may be the warning that exists that in the end there will be a great falling away, which seems to imply that it won't be a few Christians that reject Christ, but many.

Scriptures which back up a lot of this will be forthcoming in another post.