Am I Going to Heaven ?

[Ambassador4Christ]

Here is a study you need to read...

Mark Sixteen
AND THE MODERN TWISTERS
By - Dee L. McCroskey

TURN to Mark chapter sixteen, the last six verses, and you will find a series of divine statements that rank among the most ravaged, and the most twisted and turned, of all Bible truths. Listening to the confusion over this passage, with some modern religionists insisting on water salvation and others claiming miraculous powers and wonders, one in reminded of the sign often seen over an iron-works door: “All kinds of twisting and turning done here.”
Some of these followings, such as the Campbellites, only go as far as verse 16 before their imaginations run out. So they run for the baptism tank to get saved, as they think, but decline to presume the powers and wonders of verse 17. But their more imaginative cousins, such as the common variety of Pentecostalist, get a far a verse 17. They lay claim to the talking in tongues mentioned here, but concede that something has gone amiss with their faith, so that they are not prepared to get serious about the snakes and poison in verse 18. The climax is finally reached, however, by the ultra fanatics, who go on to verse 18, drink poison, take rattle snakes into the pulpit with them and land in the hospital.
But what about these Scriptures in Mark sixteen? Here, as in all similar Scriptures, we must “rightly divide” the Word. (Memorize 2. Timothy 2:15 and 1. Corinthians 10:32. They are key Scriptures.) To understand such Scriptures as Mark sixteen, the very first thing is to determine who it is to whom the Lord is speaking. Is it His earthly people, Israel. or to the Gentiles, or to His Church? This is the first step in rightly dividing the Word, for God deals differently with each of these three companies . Not that we would abandon any Scripture, for Romans 15:4 says that whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that is, for application. But not all Scriptures were written directly to us. Let us be sure we are clear on that point, and we will be spared from error and confusion.
We will find the answer to our first question here in the 14th verse of Mark 16. It gives us the speaker and the ones spoken to. It says: “Afterward He appeared UNTO THE ELEVEN as they sat at meat.”
Here it is plainly not His church of today, but the little company of Hebrew disciples, representative of the Jewish remnant. It could not possibly have been to the church, for His church was not brought into existence until after His ascension to glory.
Then He tells them in verse 15: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” These were the marching orders for the Jewish remnant of that day. The parallel passage in Matthew 28 speaks of baptizing and teaching nations. It looks forward to the time when “all power” will be given the Lord Jesus Christ, when He will come to judge the nations on earth and to set up His kingdom. But this passage in Mark is purely local, to the remnant of the time, as we see in the 20th verse. “They were soon dispersed and preached in all parts of the civilized world.

The Campbellites and their Water

Now we come to the much abused 16th verse, the special delight of the Campbellites (the so-called “Christian church” and the so-called “Church of Christ.”)
“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” By wresting this verse out of its proper place, and doing the same to their other favorite one, Acts 2:38, the Campbellites preachers insist that water baptism is absolutely necessary for salvation. Their error is serious, for it denies the finished work of Christ on the cross of Calvary, and adds some puny work of man. The Scripture says, “Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:9).
I will give $1000.00 dollars to the first person who will show me one single verse of Scripture that plainly says a man will be damned if he is not baptized with water. This is not done in the spirit of gambling, but simply that it would easily be worth that to me to be set right if I am wrong. This offer still holds. If the Campbellite preacher be right let them step forth with such a Scripture.
Mark 16:16, even when wrested out of its Jewish setting and erroneously used as church truth, does not say that “he that is baptized not shall be damned.” The Spirit is very careful here to say only that “he that believeth not shall be damned.” That holds good in any age. Men always have to be saved by faith, and always will be. Because this Scripture was for the Jews of the dispersion, and water baptism was in order for them, as well as signs and wonders, it was needful for them to demonstrate true repentance by water immersion. But as far as salvation was concerned, believing on Christ was the essential thing.
This is proven by the repentant thief of the cross. He was not baptized, but he believed on the Lord, and acknowledged Him as Lord, and he went to glory with the Lord. The argument that he was unable to get baptized is weak and without any foundation in the Scriptures. “Not by works of righteousness which WE have done, but according to His mercy He saved Us” (Titus 4:5 and Ephesians 2:8-9).
A group of young Campbellite seminary students once attended a Bible meeting in Eugene, Oregon. With characteristic assumption of infallability they seized the first opportunity to project their doctrine of salvation by immersion. They were asked: “What about the case of a man who is convicted of his sins at a meeting and receives the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour, but on the way home he meets with an accident and is killed? What becomes of him?” The young men shook their head sadly and said: “It would be too bad; he should have gotten baptized immediately!” Thus as 1 Corinthians 1:17 says, the cross of Christ is “made of none effect.”
Now we come to the 17th verse in Mark 16, the favorite of the Pentecostal following. But they overlook one word, the work “shall.”
“And these signs SHALL follow them that believe: in My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues.”
The awkward part here is that these miraculous signs SHALL follow them that believe, and he that believeth not shall be damned. It would, then, be very bad for any professed believer who could not talk in tongues if this Scripture were for today. It would prove that he had not yet attained a saving belief. But this is not all. In the 18th verse we find even more starling signs, which Christ said SHALL follow them
that believe:

Snakes and Poison

“They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”
Most of the professing miracle workers of today know that these signs DO NOT follow them. They know what a rattlesnakes will do to them, and they know what a dose of strychnine will do. And as for healing the sick, if it would really work they would be in constant demand everywhere. So they fall back on this weak and beggarly argument: “I believe a person could do these things if he had faith enough, and besides, I wouldn’t want to temp God by taking up a serpent or drinking poison unless necessary.”
But when is it every necessary, in the normal course of life, to take up serpents or drink poison? Note that these are “signs,” not antidotes to be used in case of accident. A “sign” was a demonstration to be put on, for the sake of those who looked on, that the Word might be confirmed. Nor was anything said about degrees of faith. The Lord guaranteed that these signs would follow them that believed. As Paul said, the Jews require a sign and God gave them signs.
“They went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and CONFIRMING THE WORD with signs following” (verse 20). Here we have the reason for all the miraculous gifts in apostolic days. The New Testament was only in the making and in lieu of His finished Word, God gave miraculous powers to His servants so as to confirm their divine authority. This kind of elementary confirmation came to an end with Acts 28:28, with the final turning to the Gentiles. The Word is completed now, and it is the only divine authority the man of faith needs.
The apostolic period when the Word was being compiled, and confirmed by signs, is covered by the book of Acts. “The very signs spoken of in Mark are fulfilled in the book of Acts. In the eight chapter of Acts, for instance, we read of Philip casting out devils, healing the lane and the palsied, and of the people believing and being baptized. In Acts 28:3 Paul is bitten by a venomous snake but suffered no ill effect, and proceeding to lay hands on the sick and heal them.
But today we have what Peter calls “present truth” for our guidance. This “present truth” is found in the church epistles, written by the Apostle Paul. One thing emphatically stressed in these Epistles, is that salvation is obtained by faith alone, faith in the finished work of Christ upon the cross. “I do not frustrate the grace on God.” writes Paul. If any works of ours are added to His glorious, atoning work on the cross, then Christ has died in vain. God’s way for the sinner is given us in Romans 10:9.
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

“Speaking the Truth in Love”

[Brother Love]

Mark Sixteen
AND THE MODERN TWISTERS

Now thats some real meat to chew on, thanks A4C

Brother Love

[Ambassador4Christ]

From: The Two Minutes With The Bible daily devotional

HEAVEN -- AND WHO WILL GO THERE

Most people are surprised when they learn that the Old
Testament, though three times as large as the New, does
not contain one single promise about going to heaven. God’s
people, in Old Testament times, looked forward to a glori-
fied earth, with Messiah as its Ruler.

This was so even when our Lord was on earth and con-
tinued to be so through Pentecost. Peter, addressing his
kinsmen just after Pentecost, said in essence: "Repent, and
God will send Jesus down here" (See Acts 3:19-20), but
Paul, in his epistles, says by divine inspiration: "Believe,
and God will take you up there."

This apostle of grace teaches us that God has already
given believers in Christ a position and "all spiritual bless-
ings" in heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 2:4-6; 1:3). And he
teaches further that at the close of this dispensation of
grace "the dead in Christ shall rise" and "we which are
alive and remain shall be caught up together ...to meet the
Lord... and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (I Thes.
4:16,17).

Thus it is that Paul, God’s special apostle for our day,
declares that "our conversation [or citizenship] is in heaven"
(Phil. 3:20) and writes of "the hope which is laid up for you
in heaven" (Col. 1:5). Thus it is that he encourages per-
secuted saints, saying: "Ye...took joyfully the spoiling of
your goods, knowing...that ye have in heaven a better and
an enduring substance" (Heb. 10:34). And thus he writes
even of death:

"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dis-
solved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens" (II Cor. 5:1).

"...to die is gain....to depart and to be with Christ...is far
better" (Phil. 1:21,23).

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[Royo]

Tongues:

One is born again when the Holy Spirit comes to live IN them; the speaking in tongues was given when the Holy Spirit came UPON them, as in Acts 2. And this, when He came UPON them, was to anoint them for service. They had already been born again. See John 20.22.
I went to a service once at a church in Seattle where they taught this same thing about not saved unless you speak in tongues. They were 'teaching' people how to speak in tongues. I had to go outside to talk to God. Needless to say, I did not go to Casey Treat's church again.
Yours in Christ. Roy.

[Left Coast]

I also attended a church as a guest where they spoke in tongues. I also had to go outside. I wanted to stand up and scream

Mark 13:22  For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.

Many years earlier I witnessed almost the exact thing when Elizabeth Prophet spoke for the ascended masters.
I don't question that it is often supernatural.

2 Corinthians 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
2 Corinthians 11:15  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

[Royo]

To add to my previous reply, so there is no misunderstanding.

I was not speaking against speaking in tongues. Only those that say you are not saved if you have not done so.
After the Holy Spirit came upon me, (6 years after being a born again Christian), I began to speak in tongues. (though at that moment I did not know what it was; only that God was touching me).
I pray in tongues often when I am in my prayer closet with the Lord. But to say one is not saved if this has not taken place in their life is an outright lie.
I know I am BOLDLY saying something again, but this is a lie that must be spoken against. I think that a good portion of Christians have never spoken in tongues, and to tell them they are not saved because of this cannot go without the truth being clarified.

God's blessing upon us all.  Roy.

[Left Coast]

I would get on my knees and plead with God to have mercy.
Tongues ended when the bible was finished.
It cannot come from God, but Satan is more than willing.

[Brother Love]

I would get on my knees and plead with God to have mercy.
Tongues ended when the bible was finished.
It cannot come from God, but Satan is more than willing.

YES!!! Tongues ended with the completion of the Word of God (The Bible)

Brother Love

[Royo]

Another case of someone having their own set belief about  a certain topic. That is O.K. with me.
Paul speaks about how tongues are to be used, both in our closet, and in the church. His teachings suffice for me. Others may reject his teachings, or not. This is not a topic I will debate, for I find those who feel as the last 2 replies said are pretty much adamant about it.

Love to you all.  Roy.

[Left Coast]

The best information I have seen clearing up tongues is on another forum. http://www.botcw.com/talk/showthread.php?s=2543e4f0d099b61a64f977631307aceb&threadid=5514&perpage=15&pagenumber=3
This is absolutely a good post. Royo I hope you read it.

[Brother Love]

Thus while His death my sins displays

In all its blackest hue,

Such is the mystery of grace,

It seals my pardon  too!

Brother Love

[Left Coast]

jtb
Since when the bible was finished it was no longer necessary to bring revelation God ended that gift.
We now have everything we need. Why do you need more? Trust in God. HE has completed His word and given it to us.
Where do your dreams and visions come from? If you speak in tongues, where does this come from? Does it come from God? Or does it come from your own mind?
If it comes from God then by definition it is the word of God.
You better run around all over you might miss something important. God is speaking through all sorts of people. NOT.
What if God said He was going to take everyone to heaven that met on Mount Fuji the third Saturday of the year. You sure wouldn’t want to miss THAT would you?
We really don’t have to worry about that because God sealed the bible.

Revelation 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Revelation 22:21  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Amen. So be it.
None of the books of the bible stand alone. ALL scripture is God breathed. There are those that argue Rev. 22 only relates to Revelation. But everything that God has revealed gives us understanding of the rest of His word.
All sorts of groups go off following certain individuals that claim God has given them special information.
The book of Mormon was ‘new’ information. But can they find evidence of the great cities that were supposed to have existed? No.
The SDA Church believes Ellen G. White has new information even though it is easy to show God did not give her new information. If it was from God it would be accurate. According to Ellen the population should have decreased, it went up, A LOT.
According to Ellen tea will poison your system. WRONG. Black tea is beneficial, Green tea is better, and white tea is very, very good for you.
The list goes on and on about so called divinely guided prophets.

Matthew 24:11  And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

Do you sacrifice animals? Do you go to Jerusalem every year? Doesn’t God command us to do that?
What do you do on the new moon?
All of these things ended with Christ.
As did the Sabbath.
You pleaded with me twice for my E-Mail address. After I showed you how you could see that God changed the Sabbath day. I gave you detailed directions on how to do that. I gave you the many verses as they are properly translated in Young’s Literal Translation.
I e-mailed you a very simple question:

O.K. John
Why did God word Matthew 28:1 the way He did.
You e-mailed me back:
I will get back with you 'i' promise! No real excuses, but it is five in the morning here, and i have had about 4 hrs. nite'y nite time! (smile) And still have several messages to read. And then when this old man see daylight? (best say sunset, huh?) i have 3 ac. to go mow.

That was Sept. 1, over two weeks ago.
Young’s properly translates Mat. 28:1

Matthew 28:1 ¶ And on the eve of the sabbaths, at the dawn, toward the first of the sabbaths, came Mary the Magdalene, and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre,

You don’t need to e-mail me. The answer should be very easy for you.  However I haven’t had one seventh day worshipper answer this.
Just as the Sabbath day was fulfilled in Christ; dreams, visions, and tongues ended with the completion of the bible.
You don’t want to obey Matthew 28:1 so it is not likely you will obey Rev. 22 either.
Tell me do you really think if someone slipped you some deadly poison you wouldn’t die?    
 
Mark 16:17  And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
Mark 16:18  They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

[Petro]

Speaking of the ceasing of certain spiritual gifts;

1 Cor 12
8  Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10  But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

Really depends on how one interprets vs 10, and what is "perfect", that should come. Jesus is perfect and He had already come, the Spirit of God which is perefect was already come and actively working in the world by this time, the word which God had put in the mouth of Jesus, had been spoken and it was perfect, there is nothing pointing to the Word needing to be written by men to perfect anything.

But the the individuals who make up Gods body, are being perfected, and as yet the body is not perfect, in the sense that it is not complete, and since this is God the Sp[irits work, mHe still labors to this day, perfecting the body of Christ, adding to it all who are ordained to receive eternal life.

Some say when the completed word of God, was published, that is to say put into wrtitng, is the perfection spoken of at vs 10.

However, how does this square up, with the Word itself, in that the Bible promises not that the word would be written in books or paper but in the hearts of men, in accordance with the covenant.

The house of Israel, is not just the natural seed of Abraham.

Heb 8
10  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:


2 Cor 3
3:1  Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
2  Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.

And speaking of Jesus;

Heb 10
12  But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
13  From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
14  For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
15  Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
16  This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
17  And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
18  Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

The book of 1 Corthians, was written before the book of Acts, and what is interesting is that many christians today, live lives as though they are not children of God, in some cases, while speaking with them, we wonder if they are really what they claim to be.

I say that the perfect referenced above refers to christians, the children of God, who although saved, have not come into perfection, in the real sense of the word.

Note this verse;

Lk 6
40 The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.
41  And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
42  Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.
43  For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
44  For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.
45  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like:
48  He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
49  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.


Those who are made perfect in Christ, do His words. This is the real test, do we really need the bible, to do good??

Blessings,

[Brother Love]

Brother Love

[Ambassador4Christ]

Brother Love

Amen Brother Love, the Battle is already won.

Thank You Jesus