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Sermons

Subject 6 : Heretics

[6-3] Who Are Christians That Believe in Jesus within The Framework of Their Own Fleshly Thinking? (1 Kings 12:25-33)

Who Are Christians That Believe in Jesus within The Framework of Their Own Fleshly Thinking?(1 Kings 12:25-33)
“Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and dwelt there. Also he went out from there and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, ‘Now the kingdom may return to the house of David: If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah.’ Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, ‘It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!’ And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. He made shrines on the high places, and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi. Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made. So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.”


I read along with you today the Word of God from the First Book of Kings chapter 12 verses 25 through 33. The words of today’s Scripture passage are frequently dealt with as a topic of a sermon that we get to hear often, but in truth, so many Christians do not know very well the spiritual meaning hidden in this Word of God. And so, along with fellow workers at home and abroad, I wish to look into heretics, a wicked group, as shown in today’s Scripture passages. 
The outline of the passage we read today is as follows. Originally, a man named Jeroboam wasn’t a member of royalty. Because Solomon had sinned before God, Jeroboam became the king of Israel, and in order to defend his kingship, he made two golden calves and set them up in Bethel and Dan. Then, by telling the people of Israel, “Here are two calves of gold, gods which have guided you,” he had the people of Israel worship the idols, and in doing so, he had turned them into collective heretics.
God really hated this sin of Jeroboam. All the sins people commit before God because of their insufficiencies and weaknesses should all receive the remission of sin by having faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, but the sin of having people believe falsely and be cursed by altering this gospel of the water and the Spirit can never be forgiven before God. Like so, those who altered the sacrificial system that God had set as the Law of salvation in the Old Testament could not avoid punishment for the sins they have committed. Even in this current day and age, there are many people who have received the remission of sin by believing in the way of salvation set by God and having faith in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. However, all those who do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit but instead stand against it are heretics. It would be fine if such people were to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit even now, but if they do not, they do not get to receive the remission of sin forever.
God tells us that the sin that Jeroboam committed is like the sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit in the New Testament (Matthew 12:31, Hebrews 10:29). As from the Word of God, only the sacrificial system set by God is what can save humanity from all their sins. However, because Jeroboam had committed the work challenging and demolishing the plan for salvation set by God from its very foundation, God had reproached and destroyed him, his children, and even his people. 
In order to keep his throne, Jeroboam had changed God’s sacrificial system arbitrarily and offered sacrifices to the golden calves by setting them in his temples and saying that they were gods. And also, he had appointed priests from every class of ordinary people who were not of the sons of Levi, and that was a great sin that had all the people fall into ruin. King Jeroboam, in his own heart, had replaced God with the golden calves. And also, in his own heart, he had installed false priests, not the duly qualified priests God had ordained, and had people offer sacrifices to the idols. Because of the things that he had set according to his own heart, he had his soul destroyed, as well as all the souls of the Israelites under his reign. Thus, God tells us through the Scripture passages that the curse of God fell upon the house of Jeroboam and all those living inside his house and that the same curse of God also fell upon his successors. 


There Are Christians Currently Leading a Life of Faith within the Framework of Their Own Thinking

Today, Christian leaders have also made a strange faith in accordance with their own thoughts. So far all the Christian denominations have defined Christianity as a religion of the remission of sin, and they have made the doctrine of the remission of sin with Jesus’ blood of the Cross and believed in it. The doctrine of salvation of current Christianity is composed of the blood of the Cross and the doctrine of sanctification. Thus, Christians have a firm conviction that their sins get cleansed by the faith of believing in the blood of the Cross. In other words, thinking within the frame of thought they have created, they have a firm conviction that Jesus came to this earth and remitted the sins of people by the blood of the Cross. In this manner, people tend to believe that one can receive salvation if he believes in Jesus having cleansed all his sins by coming to this earth and by shedding His blood on the Cross. Christians have created the doctrine of salvation according to the framework of their own thinking and spread such faith to others. However, such doctrine is nothing but a fabricated doctrine that was created out of the framework of their own thinking. That no one can receive the remission of sin no matter how ardently one may believe in this doctrine proves that it is not the Truth based on the Word of God. Thus, as a result, the doctrine of prayers of repentance gets added on as a central doctrine of Christianity.
Doctrines created by religious reformers or theologians in each of the denominations within Christianity are mostly similar. First of all, the doctrine of Christianity states “Christianity is a religion of the remission of sin.” It means that Christianity is a religion that cleanses people’s sins. Christians believe that if they believe in the Precious Blood that Jesus Christ had shed on the Cross, all their sins will disappear. It is saying that all they have to do is to believe in Jesus Christ having remitted all our sins by being crucified and dying. And so, they say that “Whoever believes in the Precious Blood that Jesus Christ had shed on the Cross, the doctrine of repentance, and the doctrine of sanctification will gain salvation” is the formula of faith by which they are able to receive salvation. They have all created a doctrine of salvation within the framework of their own thinking and have had people believe in it. 
Therefore, there is a tremendously large number of people these days who believe in the fabricated doctrine which says that anyone who believes in the blood of the Cross will gain salvation. This is a Christian doctrine that the leaders inside Christianity had created within the framework of their own thinking. If one can receive the remission of sin just by believing only in the blood of the Cross, those who really believe so must have theirs sins be gone, but the reality isn’t so. Right now, did you become the righteous who has no single piece of sin by believing only in the blood of Jesus? No, we did not. However, many people believe like in this manner. 
The current doctrines of Christianity have all been created within the framework of human thinking, and they are nothing but false doctrines. They teach that whoever acknowledges one’s own sins and believe in Jesus having blotted out our sins by being crucified and shedding His blood will receive the remission of sin. And, they teach people to think that whoever steps into that doctrine by faith will receive salvation despite having sins. 
Having created a fabricated framework for salvation inside their hearts like so and even though their sins haven’t actually disappeared, Christians continue to believe in Jesus in vain by hypnotizing themselves, “I have received the salvation.” Christians today have created a formula for the remission of sin within the framework of their own thinking by basing it on the blood of the Cross, and they go on believing that if one were to believe according to that formula, they would receive the remission of sin. However, because people who believe in the blood of Jesus only have sins, in actuality they continue to go on living always as sinners because it is nothing but an absurd doctrine. It is just like people who do not believe in Jesus continuing to go on living as sinners until death. 
People often have the tendency to create a certain hypothesis within their frame of logic and then to wish that to be the truth. However, the true gospel of salvation before God is the gospel of the water and the Spirit, rather than the gospel of the blood of the Cross. Whoever it may be, people can receive salvation only when they are born again by believing in this gospel of the water and the Spirit, and this is the Truth. 
Within the framework of his own thinking, Jeroboam believed in the idols as God. What was its result? God’s curse fell upon him. According to his own heart, he had changed the Day of Atonement from the tenth day of the seventh month to the fifteenth day of the eighth month, and by making priests from every class of ordinary people, he had them worship the idols. 
God had built the Temple in Jerusalem for the Israelites. But, by building temples in the regions of Dan and Bethel and putting golden calves there, Jeroboam had people of Israel believe in the idols by saying to them that these were their gods which have guided them. Still not satisfied, he had made shrines that seats idols in every village, and in Bethel he himself had personally ordained the priests. In order to worship the idols according to the framework of his own thinking, he had installed the priests arbitrarily. However, the Bible states that only the descendants of Levi can become God’s priests. This was something set forth by God. But, Jeroboam had believed in God according to his own thinking. His faith, which was manifested by his own thinking, was something gravely inaccurate. 
Among the descendants of Levi, the men selected from the family of Aaron were set forth by God to become the High Priests as they reach the age of thirty, and the ordinary priests from the sons of Levi were to be installed at the age of 25. God has made it so that the priests came from the family of Levi, and especially, a person who was born into the house of Aaron and had reached the age of 30 without any physical or mental problem was an instrument to be used by God as a High Priest. Therefore, when the people of Israel went to the Temple of Jerusalem, this is where they were able to meet the High Priest and the descendants of Levi. When the people passed on the offering to a priest after having laid their hands on it, the priest drew the blood of the sacrificial offering, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and poured the remaining blood onto the ground. And then, the priest offered the sacrifice to God on behalf of the people by burning its flesh on the altar. Thus, God had set all such works to enable His people to receive the remission of sin.
People had weaved together a framework for salvation according to their own thinking which stipulates that if one were to just believe in Jesus Christ’s blood of the Cross, they would receive salvation, but then again, what about the Lord’s will? Didn’t the Lord set the framework for our salvation by the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Whose frame of thinking must we believe in then? Of course, shouldn’t we believe in the framework for salvation set by the Lord? If you are those who fear God, you will believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that God has set forth as the framework for our salvation. The fact of the matter is that God had saved us by setting forth the framework for our salvation by the gospel of the water and the Spirit. God does not change the law of salvation provided for us in accordance with circumstances. This man, Jeroboam, had altered the framework of salvation according to his own heart.


We Must Believe in the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit According to the Provided Framework of Salvation Set by the Lord


We have no objection to believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that the Lord has made for us. When the Word of God says something is so, we accept it to be as such. And, there is no use in putting forth one’s own thoughts before the Word of God by saying that our thoughts are such and such. That is a short cut toward becoming heretics by departing from the providence of God. Today’s Christianity opposes the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit by having created Christian doctrines according to their own thinking. People have conjured and set up a framework for salvation in their own way of thinking thus providing a human person’s belief. And so, they think, “Jesus Christ threw away the Throne of Heaven and came down to this earth. And by being crucified, suffering a harsh ordeal, shedding His sacred blood, and being resurrected from the dead, He has saved us. The Lord has cleansed us of all the sins of this world completely.” Put differently, those who still believe within the framework of their own thinking think, “Without making much of His only begotten Son, God had sent Him to this earth in order to blot out our sins, and by having Him crucified, He has blotted out our sins.” Therefore, they go on saying that those who have sins, whoever they may be, can receive the remission of sin by believing in Jesus as the Savior. 
Having made a framework for salvation on their own accord, which claims that whoever it may be, anyone who believes in Jesus Christ’s blood of the Cross can be cleansed of any kind of sin, in this manner they go on believing. Because people, whoever they may be, generally believe in such a doctrine of the Cross created within the framework of their own thinking, people go on believing as it is without a doubt as long as such a doctrine fits their way of thinking. Thus, the thought that the gospel only of the blood of the Cross is the truth has become an inaccurate standard among Christians today. 
Therefore, it has become such that now even if there are sins inside their hearts, they are no longer able to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and to receive the cleansing of sins. Thus, it has become such that sins will always remain inside their hearts. Christians who now believe only in the blood of Jesus Christ according to the framework of their own thinking cannot make their sins go away. Because they believe in the Christian doctrines that they have created with the framework of their own thinking, they are now unable to cleanse their sins by such a faith. As Christians today, even though sins still remain in their hearts, believe in accordance with their own hearts by having set up a framework for salvation out of their own thinking, they are truly being foolish. Because Christians these days have believed only in the blood of the Cross through the Christian doctrines created by human beings, in the end, sins have come to remain intact inside their hearts. 
The true gospel isn’t just having faith only in the blood of the Cross. The only genuine gospel that the Lord has given us is the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The gospel of the water and the Spirit is the greatest Truth of salvation that the Lord has given to us human beings. The true gospel is like this: Our Lord didn’t just get crucified by coming to this earth. Rather, in order to save us from the sins of the world, He had taken on all our sins once and for all by having received the baptism from John the Baptist in the Jordan River. And, by shedding His blood on the Cross and by being resurrected from the dead, the fact is that He has given those of us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit the true salvation for an everlasting life.

 

What Is the True Gospel God Has Given Us? 


The gospel of the water and the Spirit is the Truth of salvation. What is the gospel Truth set by God in order to save us from all our sins? It is called the gospel of the water and the Spirit. However, sins haven’t yet disappeared from the hearts of most Christians because they continue to recklessly believe in Jesus as the Savior within the framework of their own thinking according their own heart. If those Christian sinners continue to not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit until the very end, they will become someone like Jeroboam in body and spirit. As for all the sinners who have inherited the faith of Jeroboam, starting from Jeroboam, God has promised let no single person live. When Jeroboam’s son became a king of Israel, he led many people to their death also, by committing the same sins as Jeroboam had committed. God cursed those possessing such a faith. God said, “The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Jeroboam and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field” (1 Kings 14:11). The fact is that God had cursed in this manner those who had committed the same sins as Jeroboam.
Why did God do so? It was because they had created a religion that worships idols according to the framework of human thinking and believed in it, and it was also because that they had preached this belief to others as well. The sins Jeroboam committed before God were sins that can never be cleansed. They are the same as today’s sin of a false faith in which one believes that people can receive the remission of sin by believing only in the blood of the Cross, that is, by believing in Jesus Christ according to the framework of their own fleshly thinking. It is the sin of standing against the will of God and deteriorating the Truth of salvation by the gospel of the water and the Spirit that was planned by God the Father even before the Creation for Jesus Christ to blot out all our sins. The sins of such people are such that they cannot be remitted but by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. 
In the Gospel of John chapter 3, Jesus said that unless one is born again of water and the Spirit, he can neither enter the Kingdom of God nor see God the Father. Jesus said, “Every one must be born again by the water and the Spirit,” and it is written in the Bible that all the twelve disciples, including the Apostles like Peter, Paul, Matthew, John, and Mark, had believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and preached it. However, the leaders of Christianity and the church members in this day and age do not realize the fact that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the Truth, and they go on believing only in the wrongful doctrines of Christianity. Inside Christianity today, there are many people who believe in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit set by God by altering it according to their own heart. This is believing in God according to the framework that people have created with fleshly thinking. 
When watching a Christian channel in Korea, there is a program entitled, “Great Sermons,” and one can see pastors who are said to be great preachers of sermons getting invited and delivering sermons over the broadcast. I also have once watched one of the so-called “Great Sermons.” The preacher claimed that Christians have to think positively, instead of having negative thoughts. The main theme of that sermon was “If a person thinks positively, then that person’s life also becomes positive, so even if there are sins in your heart, think that you are the righteous.” 
Because thinking positively is something good, I don’t intend to criticize and say that the content itself claimed by the preacher is incorrect. Nevertheless, the fact of the matter is that no matter how positively one may think, a person who has sins cannot become a sinless person by believing in a gospel that is of just the blood of the Cross, which is only half of the gospel at best. People’s sins can only be cleansed by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. People today have believed in Jesus Christ as the Savior with a positive attitude, but in truth, there are sins still inside their hearts. Even though people these days do have sins in their hearts, they are under their own illusion that they have received the remission of sin because they think that Jesus Christ has cleansed their sins by being crucified. However, their sins do not go away just by believing in a doctrine of the blood of the Cross that people have concocted within the framework of their own fleshly thinking. 
When there is a sin inside one’s heart, that person’s conscience, first of all, gives an account of his sin to God. After that, the Law of God points out a person’s sin truthfully. Thus, it is the case that sins inside one’s heart get cleansed only by having faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Today’s Christians urge people to have a positive thought as follows: “I have received the remission of sin. Even though I have sins, I have received the remission of sin.” But such faith is nothing but holding fast to a preposterous logic that says, “I am a drowning man right now, but I am also someone who has been saved from drowning.” In spite of it all, a pastor who is a so-called renowned preacher tells people to think positive, saying, “I have received the remission of sin by believing in Jesus. Jesus has saved me by dying on the Cross and then being resurrected. And so, I have received the remission of sin. Though there are sins in my heart, God has blotted out my sins.” And the audiences respond by repeatedly saying, “Amen. Amen.” The fact of the matter is that today’s Christianity has degenerated into heresy, down to a level that is more infantile than a kindergarten student. 
Try to think positive as hard as possible, but the fact of the matter is that even if you so do, the sins of the heart will never go away. The preacher referred to that faith as “the faith of the fourth dimension.” Dear fellow believers, sins inside one’s heart do not go away just by changing one’s thoughts to being positive, but instead, such a faith is like deceiving one’s self. When a person thinks positive, the thoughts become enterprising and the heart may feel at ease for a short while, but the fact of the matter is that one can never deceive the fact that the sins of one’s conscience still remain intact in his heart before God. 


Having Conjured up a Doctrine that says, “One Receives the Remission of Sin by the Blood of the Cross,” According to Their Own Thinking, Christian Leaders Continue to Believe with a False Faith


In the First Epistle to the Corinthians chapter 1 verse 18, the Apostle Paul said, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Here, “the message of the cross” refers to the very gospel of the water and the Spirit: It speaks of the Cross with an assumption of the baptism of Jesus. In other words, it speaks the Truth that Jesus was able to shed blood vicariously on the Cross because He had received the baptism from John the Baptist. If Jesus hadn’t taken on the sins of the world by receiving this baptism, the fact is that He would not have had a reason to die on the Cross. The Bible clearly states, “The way of salvation set by God is such that He has sent the Son of God to this earth, and by His Son taking on our sins by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist, receiving the judgment at the Cross, and being resurrected from the dead. It is the case that those who believe in this doctrine properly get saved from sin by the true faith.” 
However, people have distorted God’s Truth of salvation by using doctrines that they have created within the framework of their own thinking. People have created false doctrines using the framework of their own thinking that says so long as one believes in Jesus Christ’s blood of the Cross, the person should receive salvation from the sins of the world and gain everlasting life, and they go on believing in Jesus within such a framework. Those people saying, “I have sins, but I have received the remission of sin,” is a sophistry similar to saying, “1-1=1.” How can they make and believe in such a self-contradicting doctrine that insists, “Jesus has wiped away all our sins through the blood of the Cross, but it is correct that I still have sin in my heart.” That is like hypnotizing oneself and saying, “I am blessed, even though I still have sin,” and living with an illusion that one has actually received abundant blessings. They continue to hypnotize themselves thinking, “I have received the remission of sin. Jesus saved me by shedding His blood on the Cross and being resurrected from the dead.”
They hold onto the Word from Isaiah 53:5 that says, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities,” and believe in the doctrine of the blood of the Cross that was made from human thinking. But, because sin remains in their heart, they went on to write another precept that reads, “Think in all matters positive.” That’s how they became heretics and many people became sinners like Jeroboam. They believe in Jesus with a gospel that they have distorted to their hearts’ pleasure, like Jeroboam who had built shrines, put up golden calves, burned incense before the idols, and killed the lambs. He had also anointed unqualified people as priests and made them to offer sacrifices. And those Christian sinners say, “We are people of God who fear God, and God is our God.” 
People become heretics and heads of heretics because they believe in Jesus according to the framework of their fleshly thinking rather than having faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that God has established as the plan of salvation. Such faith brings down a curse upon not only himself, but also to his family and all his followers. Today’s Christians have formulated wrongful doctrines and do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit as proclaimed in the Scriptures, and this is a grievous sin. The faith of believing in only the blood of the Cross is a faith completely different from the faith of believing in the righteousness of God manifested in the Scriptures. The Scriptures do not say that the salvation is attained by believing only in the blood of the Cross. A great collective heresy called Christianity has emerged in this world because people have made and believed in such wrongful doctrines. And the leaders of this collective heresy continue to hypnotize people with such wrongful doctrines. 
What is the essential difference between true Christianity and other religions of the world? A religion of the world is a belief system or a system of doctrines that people have created and believe in within the framework of human thinking. But Christianity is different from other religions of the world. In true Christianity, the faithful accepts the God-given Word of salvation as it is given. The true faith of Christianity is simply believing in God’s Word whether It accords with our thinking or not. But, today’s Christianity has become no different from other religions of the world because Christians believe in wrongful doctrines that they have formulated according to their own thinking. God has given us the true gospel of the water and the Spirit, and we will not become heretics if we were to believe it exactly as is. Paul talks about “the message of the Cross” in the Scriptures, and by that, he is actually referring it to the gospel of the water and the Spirit. 
But, after Paul, Christianity has made false doctrines according to the framework of its own human thinking. As a result, heretics became prevalent in Christianity and Christians are blocked off from receiving the true remission of sin. They cannot lead their family members, friends, and all the people with whom they share the gospel to receive the remission of sin because they themselves have not yet received the remission of sin. Those who have believed in Jesus prior to the others are leading many people who come after them to hell. That’s why they are all headed toward destruction together. Therefore, they have come to emphasize only the carnal blessings of this world. Every Christian believes in Jesus by focusing on material blessings, saying, “One will become rich by believing in Jesus; become healthy by believing in Jesus; do well in business by believing in Jesus, and so on. They are all heretics.” 
Christians today believe in the Christian doctrines they have formulated with the framework of their own thinking just as Jeroboam had substituted God with the golden calves and believed in them. Jeroboam installed common people as priests, changed the Day of Atonement to the 15th day of the eighth month, and substituted God with the golden calves. Is gold divine? Can gold be God? Can material things become God? Can we find God in a materialistic domain? Jeroboam did so according to his thinking in order to maintain his power. As a result, he committed an irreversible sin before God. For that, he and all his family as well as all his people were cursed by God. 
These days, Christians say, “Believe in the blood of the Cross, and you shall receive salvation,” but this is a wrongful faith deriving from their misunderstanding and misbelieving in the Truth of God’s salvation. Many people think they can receive salvation from their sins through the blood of the Cross alone, but this is incorrect. Look at both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Let’s look at the 33 years of Jesus Christ’s life on this earth. The Bible has given us a record of Him up until the age of 8, and then has the record of Him receiving the baptism by John the Baptist at the age of 30 up until the age of 33 when His ministry was finished. We can see that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the real Truth just by looking at His ministry during this three-year period. 
Jesus Christ came to this earth and received the baptism from John the Baptist to bear all our sins of the world at the age of 30. In Matthew 3:13-17, there is a scene of Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist. “‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him” (Matthew 3:15-16). 
Why was Jesus baptized? Jesus was baptized to bear all our sins - the sins of all humanity, the sins of the world. After being baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus nurtured and taught His disciples and testified of God’s Word to people for three years before dying on the Cross. Jesus took all the sins of this world upon Himself through the baptism, shed His blood and died on the Cross, was resurrected from the dead after three days, witnessed His resurrection for forty days, and ascended up to heaven in the clouds while many people were watching Him. And, He promised to return at some future day. 
Dying on the Cross alone could not save us from the sins of the world. We must pay attention to the fact that the very first thing that He did during the three years of His public ministry on this earth was getting baptized by John the Baptist. Also, we must recognize that all the four Gospel Books commonly record the baptism of Jesus as the beginning point of the gospel. God began the work of our salvation by sending John the Baptist to this world and having him cry out, “Repent, you, the children of serpent.” After having prepared the hearts of the people in that manner, Jesus, Himself, appeared and the first thing He did was to receive the baptism from John the Baptist to take upon Himself the sins of the world. That’s how the Lord took upon Himself all our sins. And then, He died on the Cross. Jesus died on the Cross because He had taken upon Himself all our sins by being baptized, and saved us, at once, by being resurrected from the dead on the third day. Did Jesus really save us from all the sins of the world just by shedding His blood on the Cross? No, He did not. 
Many Christians still live as sinners despite having faith in Jesus. They believe in the false doctrine of salvation they have created based on the framework of their own fleshly thinking, and the fact is that sins inside their mind cannot be wiped away with such a false gospel. That’s why they have become heretics before God, and go on accumulating sins that they commit with their mind and body. They sorrowfully mourn for their sins in repentance, but they continue to commit more and more sins before God. We must believe in God’s Word as it is recorded in the Scriptures. Even though you have believed with the wrongful faith thus far, if someone shares with you the gospel of the water and the Spirit, you should then listen to it very carefully and search through the Scriptures to see if it is true. And, you should believe it without reservation if it shown to be true. Why do people try to believe within the framework of their fleshly thinking? Everyone needs to break through one’s framework of fleshly thinking. 
Modern Christianity, after the Reformation, has formulated Christian doctrines based on a new framework of fleshly thinking. However, Christians can come back to God by breaking these false doctrines and believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. I want to destroy all the incorrect Christian doctrines with the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. Where in the Scriptures does the Lord speak only of the blood of the Cross? The Scriptures clearly speak of the gospel of the water and the Spirit as the true gospel. All the people who have not broken the framework of their own thinking and do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are those who have gone crazy over their desire to receive God’s damning curse. Those who are trapped in such sin and believe in such fabricated Christian doctrines must, without hesitation, break the framework of their fleshly thinking and come out from such an accursed situation. Otherwise, God’s curse shall fall upon them. 
Today’s Christian doctrines are just convenient hypotheses that people have made up within the framework of their own fleshly thinking. Christians have fabricated a series of strange religious doctrines within the framework of thinking to ease their conscience. That’s why people still have sins even though they believe in Jesus under the name of Christianity just like people who have sins in their hearts despite their belief in Buddhism or any other religion of the world. In the same manner, those who believe in Christianity, Confucianism, Islam, Hinduism, or any other religion, have sins inside their hearts. Christians still remain sinners despite their faith in Jesus because they believe in such erroneous doctrines. Believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that the Lord has given. Is there a sin inside the heart of a Christian if he throws away his old faith and believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? No there isn’t. All sins are exterminated when a person believes in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. However, if a person believes only in the blood of the Cross, he is merely thinking himself to be without sin, but the fact is that sins still remain intact in their conscience. 
This is the very heretical faith. All those who do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit according to God’s plan of salvation are heretics. Jeroboam was a heretic, and all the Christians of the world who do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are heretics, too. However, who would dare to think that the doctrine, which says “Jesus wiped away our sins by shedding His blood on the Cross,” is wrong? Who would dare to challenge this doctrine Christians have believed in for nearly two thousand years? But, what’s wrong is wrong. And what is wrong must be corrected. Christians must destroy all such doctrines with the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit and correct the misguided aspects of their faith with the Truth. 
Then, some people may ask, “Are there any evidences of washing away sins with water in the Old Testament?” Let’s take a look. The Israelites first crossed the Red Sea when they were heading for the land of Canaan, but they were faced with another test to enter the Promised Land. It was the Jordan River. The Jordan River overflows all its banks during a flood season. But the water stopped flowing when the priests, as commanded by God, stepped into the river with the Ark. The Scriptures say that the water of the Jordan River rose in a heap very far away at the city named Adam, when the priests stepped into the water (Joshua 3:15-16). The Jordan River stopped flowing and rose in a heap just like the Red Sea had parted when the Israelites were crossing the Red Sea. The water from the Jordan River rose in a heap like a mountain very far away from them. 
How can such a thing happen? This was a special work of God. Through this event, God is telling us that, even in the Old Testament, He washes away our sins with water and gives us salvation through water. Look at Naaman, a commander, in 2 Kings chapter 5. Didn’t he go to the Jordan River and wash himself 7 times? Naaman’s body was cleansed after Naaman had immersed himself in the Jordan River 7 times. This event speaks to us about how Jesus took upon Himself the sins of the world through the baptism He had received from John the Baptist and washed away our sins. Like so, the Old Testament also speaks to us on numerous occasions about the “water.” On many occasions, God speaks to us about washing our sins with water.
This is the same in the New Testament. The Apostle Peter says, “There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 3:21). The Scriptures actually ask us how we could, with a clear conscience, say that Jesus was not able to take upon Himself all our sins and wash them away even though we know that Jesus came to this earth, took upon Himself all our sins by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist, and died on the Cross. Following God the Father’s plan of salvation, the Son came to this earth, received the baptism from John the Baptist, died on the Cross, was resurrected from the dead, and thus, saved us from all the sins of the world. That is why our conscience does not allow us to go before God with sins in our hearts after having realized this Truth and believing faithfully in it. Rather, we go before God with a clean and good conscience that has received the remission of sin. We cannot but go before God with a clean conscience because we have faith in Jesus having received the baptism from John the Baptist, dying on the Cross, being resurrected from the dead, washing away all our sins, receiving judgment in our place, and saving us from the curse, the death. That’s why the Scriptures say, “There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism.” Jesus Christ received the baptism from John the Baptist to take upon Himself all our sins, and shed His blood and died on the Cross to wash away our sins. 


Do Christians These Days Understand the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit and Believe in It by Faith?

There aren’t many Christians who are aware of the fact that Christianity all over the world has fallen into the sin of Jeroboam. And that grieves me. Who can dare say and imagine that the Christian doctrine that claims, “Whosoever believes in the blood of the Cross shall receive the remission of sin,” is wrong? But such Christian doctrines are something imperfect people have conjured up. As Jeroboam had set up the idols and priests according to his heart’s desires, the theologians have made Christian doctrines to be in the same manner. John Calvin of France, Martin Luther of Germany, and many others have fabricated the Christian doctrines. That’s why many believe, without question, only in Jesus having died on the Cross. 
But, what do the Scriptures say? The Scriptures speak of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Scriptures inform us of the gospel of the water and the Spirit and witness it. It is impossible for anyone to receive the remission of sin without having faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Today’s Christians around the world believe in Jesus only through the man-made doctrines, and that is wrong. It is wrong because people have made up and believe in the doctrine that says Jesus, having come to this world, wiped away their sins just by dying on the Cross. People do not get to receive the remission of sin even though they believe in Jesus because this is a doctrine that was formulated on the basis of human thought and because they believe in it and share such a faith with others. Ask someone who believes in Jesus as his Savior and Lord, “Do you have sin in your heart?” 
Only those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit do not have sins, but all the others have sins. Some people say that they have no sin even though they believe only in the blood of the Cross. Even though they actually have sin in their hearts, those people say so only because they believe firmly in the Christian doctrines of their own making. They say they have no sin, but they are not saying that because they truly do not have sins in their hearts. Because they believe in the wrongful Christian doctrines and because it sounds strange to say that they have sins when they claim to have received the remission of sin through the blood of the Cross, they are professing their faith positively despite having sins in their hearts. 
But those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit do not have sins in their consciences. Although they are insufficient, they do not have sins in their consciences because they believe in Jesus having saved all humankind by taking all the sins of the world upon Himself through the baptism received from John the Baptist, dying on the Cross, and being resurrected from the dead. Those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit cannot say that they have sins. Why? It’s because Jesus came to this world, received the baptism, took all our sins upon Himself, received the terrible suffering, died on the Cross, was resurrected from the dead, and thus, saved us from all our sins once and for all. How can we, with a good conscience, say that we have sins when Jesus has saved us with the gospel of the water and the Spirit? We cannot conscientiously say that we have sins because we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Because the Lord has blotted out all our sins and because we believe this Truth, we can’t say that we have sins, and the fact of the matter is that we have clearly received the remission of our sins. That’s why we don’t have sins in our hearts. Is this just our imagination? Is this gospel something we’ve made up? Is this something that I’ve created? This is the Truth and the fact is that it is not of our own making. 
This gospel of the water and the Spirit is the gist of the Scriptures. When studying a certain subject, understanding the key point of the subject unravels all else that follows. God came to this world to save sinners, and the key point of the salvation is Jesus Christ receiving the baptism from John the Baptist in the Jordan River. He took upon Himself all the sins of humankind by receiving the baptism from John the Baptist. That’s why He was able to give us the true salvation by getting nailed, dying on the Cross, and being resurrected from the dead. We have received this salvation by understanding and believing in this Truth. 
But what is Christianity like these days? In this day and age, Christianity has formulated false doctrines based on the framework of fleshly thinking, and it is turning Christians into hypocritical legalists. They teach people, saying, “How can we not believe in the Lord when He has come to this world and shed blood on the Cross for us? And how can we not live virtuously after having come to believe in the Lord?” Thus the Christian leaders are making their followers ethically praiseworthy people. They teach, “You must live a righteous life because you are a Christian. Your behavior must change. Then you will receive blessings. Live according to God’s Word. Then you will receive blessings. Believe in the blood of the Cross. Even though you have sin in your heart, God will forgive all your sin if you believe in the blood of Jesus Christ. Think in such positive ways and become an ethically upright person. Live a good upright life and become an ethically decent person.” So, how can Christians today not be heretics? 
We have received salvation by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and we are in service to the Lord because we have received salvation. We believe in the Lord, sing praises, worship Him, and support preaching of the gospel because the Lord has saved us with the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. If we were to claim that we have been saved only by believing Jesus died on the Cross, then Jesus, from His side, has not completely washed away our sins, and also from our side, we won’t be able to receive the remission of sin by believing in this manner of Jesus. Although He is the only begotten Son of God, it would have been degrading, dishonorable, and deceitful of Jesus. And our sins wouldn’t even have been washed away if Jesus Christ had just said, “I am dying for you. All of your sins are washed away,” and died on the Cross. If the Lord has come to this earth to save us the sinners, there must be a process of the Lord taking upon Himself all our sins. Without the process of taking all the sins upon Himself, it is indecent, even for God Himself, to say, “I will die on the Cross. Just believe in me.” This would be an unreasonable request to us. Isn’t that so? Don’t you think so? Does that mean we should believe without any questioning? Jesus would give a reason for us to believe, He would not just demand us to believe without having given us a reason or any logic. 
These days, Christian doctrines have turned people into collective heretics. That’s why they are leading other people into hell as well. The faith of believing in wrongful Christian doctrines is different from the faith of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Do you think that there seems be only a little difference? You may think so, but they are worlds apart from each other. Let’s think about it for a minute. Are all the other gospels besides the gospel of the water and the Spirit heretical, or are they not? They all are heretical. I feel horrible just thinking about this fact. People are being deceived by doctrines that humans have made up, and they are going to hell because they believe in the fallacious Christian doctrines even though they believe in Jesus Christ. I cannot help but preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit when I think of this. I have to talk about heretics when I think of this.
There are so many heretics in the world. There are about 6.5 billion people in the world, and about 1.5 billion people are Christians in total. And to think that only a few thousand people have been born again by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and that all the others believe in an incomplete and thereby wrongful doctrine makes me speechless. Doesn’t it? Most of them are heretics. This thought makes me feel miserable. 
Something that looks similar but is not actually the same is called “pseudo.” The Christian leaders who are not the born-again preach, “You must be the light of the world.” But, people cannot become the light or the salt of the world merely by trying hard. People yearn to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, but that will not happen no matter how hard they try. Why not? Most Christians cannot become the light of the world or the salt of the earth because they are just clinging onto a fabricated fallacious doctrine. That’s because they do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and thus, they can neither believe in it nor possess it. People become the light and the salt of the world of their own accord owing to the work of the Holy Spirit, for if they just believe in the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, the Holy Spirit indwells within them. But, that’s not happening because they depend on doctrines that have come out of human thinking. 
Sharing this truth is a great responsibility. If there are 1.5 billion Christians in the world, almost all of them are heretics. That’s the problem. If at least 10% of those Christians have the correct faith, there would be no problem because the 10% would do the work of the gospel according to their faith. But, there is a big problem because all the Christians of the world, like Jeroboam, think whatever they want to think and make up doctrines in any way they want to and believe however they want to. It is a big problem, when not even considering the unbelievers. I feel so frustrated. 
But, what can we do? We can only share paper books and electronic books with people around the world. What else could we do? Although we do not have much, we do God’s work because God has given us the task. Jeroboam is the head of heretics, and there are many like him among Christians today thinking and believing any way they please. We must consider such reality. 
What is a heretic? A heretic is someone, like Jeroboam, who thinks and believes any way he or she pleases. Heretical faith is something that may seem similar to true Christianity, but it is actually different. It is what we call, “pseudo-Christianity.” Even if you say, “He really treats the topic of heresy relentlessly once he gets started. He speaks of the heresy again today even though he spoke of it during previous worship services,” I cannot but deal with this topic ceaselessly. 
We must not believe in a ludicrous doctrine that says things that are as foolish as “1-1=1.” There is no difference between a doctrine that claims, “Jesus Christ has removed all our sins through the blood of the Cross, but I still have sin” and an erroneous calculation of “1-1=1.” We must not make up a doctrine based on our own thinking and then believe in it. Christians must know and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. 
We must pray for those heretical Christians. We must pray that all such people of the world would come back to the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit and receive salvation by believing in it. We must save those who believe in God within the framework of their own thinking.
 
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