Believing which is not salvation as in Acts 8:9-24 compared to believing which is, Acts 13:14-48...
old man joe
to deny that there are two kinds of believing taught in the Bible is to deny the plain
teaching of Holy Scripture.
in Acts 8:9-24 we have the account of Simon Magus... Simon the Magician.
secular writings as well as Holy Scripture records this fellow as an early church
heretic. it's plain to see from the account of him written in Acts 8 that his hearts
intent was to add to his dark power's if he could acquire from the Apostles the imparting
of the Holy Spirit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Magus
the context of Acts 8 records this including the declaration that " Simon himself
believed. " it is from here that the context conditions exactly what the use of the word
' believe ' means in v.13
it means secular assent... agreement with the facts. it does not mean Simon believed unto
salvation. those who are saved by the kind of believing God ordains unto His elect ones
as in Acts 13:48 does not bring about a railing judgement against them as the Apostle
brought on Simon. it also does not mean that Simon believed unto salvation and
immediately fell from grace and lost salvation.... you can not lose something you never
had.
it shouldn't surprise anyone that there are two completely different meanings with the way
God uses the word believe. the Bible world cosmos translated ' world ' the way God uses
it in the Gospel and writing's of John has no less than seven different meaning's all of
which are conditioned by the context.
the " faith " the co-redeemer's insist they've placed in Christ as the means to salvation
is mere assent. the Bible teaches quite plainly that man is not and can not be saved by
placing his faith in Jesus Christ but that man is saved only if and when Jesus Christ
imparts His faith to him as we read in Gal. 2:16 and many other passages.
it is only those whose names He's written in His Book of Life who will ever be given the
faith of Jesus Christ. all other's, that is, those whose names are not written in the
Lamb's Book of Life, can place all the faith they boast of mustering up in Jesus Christ
and not see life. this is because man is simply not saved by " the will of man, " ( Jn.
1:12,13 )... a passage studiously avoided by co-redeemer's.
you see, the co-redeemer's take a passage such as Jn. 3:3 and expound it in reverse order.
they first see the kingdom of God, understand the message of the gospel, make a decision
for Christ of their own free will, and then conclude they're born again.
the passage teaches the exact opposite. first, a man is born again, then and only then
does he understand the gospel. why ? simply because man is dead in sin and unless given
life first, he can not see the kingdom of God. in his dead state he simply can not
circumcise his own heart. he must wait upon the Lord for His salvation ( Ps. 25:5 )... he
must wait for the Lord God to circumcise his heart without human hands helping...
something a co-redeemer will not do since there is no boast to be had.
co-redemption includes the idea that the only people who can possibly be saved are those
who first see the kingdom of God and after which invoke God to save them by some work of
their free will acting upon the gospel. only the smart can ever be saved with this
co-redemption type of gospel. aborted fetuses, babies dying at birth, toddler's and the
mentally impaired are excluded.
co-redemption also includes the idea that Christ failed at Calvary to procure salvation
for His elect ones since many will go on to perdition according to the Bible. the
co-redeemer's insist anyone can make a decision for Christ anytime they feel like it since
Christ died for everyone... even those He sends to perdition for their forgiven sins. if
Christ died for everyone then everyone is saved or else Christ failed at Calvary.
the gospel of co-redemption is concocted by those who've shown they have no Godly concern
about what God says in the Bible concerning what salvation really is. they would
otherwise give all of the glory to God for raising their dead souls up, but no, they
insist they've saved themselves because above all other's they first understood the gospel
and made a free will decision for Christ contrary to Jn. 1:12,13.
curtjester1
and a one time happening, find all sorts of scenarios to have to
'rationalize' that so. The Scriptures plainly say, that the demons
also believe, so mere belief is not an answer for salvation. The
Scriptures say like, in Matt. 24:13, "he that has endured to the END
will be saved." Salvation always means a decison based on a judgment
by the one who grants the Salvation, and there is nothing in the
Scriptures that would say a person is saved by their 'quality' of
belief. Faith without works is dead. That's a contingency for
salvation's consideration. Salvation is always determined at the end
of a life or passing a test. For those whose hopes are for an earthly
existence that would be eternal, it would mean passing a test, like
Adam and Eve were required and which will be institued again in the
Millenium's end...Rev chapter 20. Those that have endured to the end,
and are heaven bound (to rule over the earth) will have their
salvation granted as they are transformed into INCORRUPTIBILITY (that
which can't be corrupted ever) which is their resurrection time. I
like Scriptures like this in Hebrews 6 that show that salvation can be
lost by actions of people that were going good as far as their
salvation was considered in a judged good state.
Answer: Hebrews 6:4-6 states, “For it is impossible for those who were
once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become
partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and
the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again
to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God,
and put Him to an open shame.”
It also shows that once they have willfully have fallen away that
their possibility to be renewed as impossible and unacceptable. Of
course this is those that are truly born again and have received a
true holy spirt experience from God (like Pentecost), and have chosen
to spit on the name of Christ and to even go against the arrangement
that they were bought from and were under. Ananias and Sapphira were
obvious ones in that category.
CJ