Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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Pastor John:
Gary here. Goodness.... look who wrote me again! It is the young man who claims to be an apostle. Here it is:
Brother Gary:
Most of what you say is true. It is true that the new birth is the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues. It is true that the trinity is a lie ... It is true that water baptism was done away with.. . . One thing that you are in error about is that once a person has been TRULY born of God that they won’t ALL overcome the world. As soon as we receive what Jesus Christ died for, the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues, we have overcome this world, because God has accepted our faith, forever making us heirs with Christ. 1John 5:4 states, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.” We have been sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, by which we are sealed UNTO the day of redemption. It is the wedding garment. It is the sanctification and righteousness of Christ. There are plenty that shall only be saved as by fire, and that is why we must “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” But nothing can pluck us out of the Master’s hands, my dear brother. We have entered into His rest. . . .The moment someone receives the TRUE Spirit of God, with the TRUE witness of God, they have overcome this world, and with it receive the promise of eternal life. 1John 5:13 says “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may KNOW that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.”. . . True rivers of living water, flowing from Jesus, will be a well springing up unto life everlasting. Just some thoughts to chew on brother. I don’t know everything by a long shot. I love you, my brother. I. P.
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Hi Gary:
This morning I read the young man’s letter to you (above). What this young man is saying is that no one who receives the real holy Ghost will ever go astray.
I would leave him alone. Some things must take care of themselves. Just give this foolish young man some time, and Jesus will make sure that he stumbles along the way. (In reality, he already has, but he can’t see that yet.) Then, he will be forced by his own experience to admit that his doctrine is wrong. And when that day comes, this self-proclaimed apostle will need God’s people to be very tender and kind with him so that he will not be discouraged. I love him for his zeal, but it is a “zeal without knowledge”, and it is very self-willed. I hope that he does not waste many more of the precious years of his youth in this vain attempt to exalt himself so highly.
This “apostle’s” doctrine is a form of the fundamentalist Christian doctrine of “once saved, always saved”, for he is teaching “once filled with the real holy Ghost, never lost.” If that were true, Gary, there would be no such thing as “believing in vain” or “falling from grace” or “foolish virgins”. There would be no reason for Paul’s warning that saints must obey God’s commandments or suffer being cut off, as Israel was (Rom. 11), no need for Jesus’ warning to his disciples that unfaithful servants would be “given their portion with the unbelievers and hypocrites”, no need for the author of Hebrews to use Israel’s history as an example for us, and no need for Paul to feel “the terror of the Lord.”
Many people in the Church of God sect used to teach that “the holy Ghost won’t dwell in an unclean temple”. They taught essentially the same thing as this young man does now. They believed that as long as the holy Ghost still spoke through someone, it had not left him, and so, he must still be clean in God’s sight. The truth is that the holy Ghost may speak through someone in a heavenly language and pray for him because he is NOT right with God and needs the Spirit’s help. Didn’t Paul say that “the Spirit makes intercession for us according to the will of God”?
God has helped us, to this point, to escape all the spirits of this false apostle’s darkness. I hope we appreciate the value of the undeserved blessings we have received.
Pastor John