(reprint from the Weekly Word of the HOGN, February, 2001)
The joy of pastoring does not come in the annual appreciation service but it comes from seeing a positive result in the lives of those to whom you minister God's Word. I would dare say that in either case those people to whom I refer did not see their spiritual growth, but I sure did. That is why I have said too many times that you and I cannot add one quarter inch to our spiritual stature but we are growing just the same. This kind of growth cannot be preached about as a "do and don't" message. The law of God has been written in our hearts and it is a vast law, all encompassing , far exceeding the 613 ordinances of the former Law. the Law of the Spirit cannot be acted out by anyone. That Law is Life itself and will manifest itself in the one who possesses it.
As a congregation, we should have a working understanding of the believing aspect of salvation. We have been down that road of truth many times. But the Holy Ghost gave more light just the other day.
God is in the business of saving sinners. Personally, I believe the verse that says, "is anything too hard for the Lord?" should apply to the saving of sinners. God is dealing with a species that cannot get things right except for a very short duration. During this process, whatever it is that God must get from man, it is not man's performance. As in any situation involving many people, some will excel but none of them will ever get it thoroughly right for the rest of their life on earth. God made His law the standard for the attainment of Righteousness and for 1520 years, no one has got it right. Although God already knew the results of such a test, he performed it in order to get the subjects themselves to understand that they couldn't perform their way to heaven; meeting his Standard for Righteousness. So even if God wanted man's assistance in the salvation process, his hands would be tied because it has been proven that this sinful creature cannot do good consistently or in some cases…not at all. So how does God go about saving this creature? He makes salvation as easy as it can possibly be! He sets the bar at a level where the entire human race can qualify without respect to anything of advantage or disadvantage. he made "believing" the qualifying ingredient. Believing is not a spiritual act. it does not need the assistance of prayer and fasting in order to operate. Believing is a component God built into man expressly for the purpose of saving or damning him. And I must express how nice it was to write though the law section and not to keep inserting "willful sin" disclaimers.
God assisted man's belief mechanism by providing a Creation as the signature of His existence. The starry universe says that something or someone is beyond the concept of man in the areas of power, wisdom, and knowledge. The creator is of such magnificence that he must be worshipped because obviously he made me also. The unbeliever must take "willful ignorance blvd," There are no other ignore-God exits that will provide an adequate explanation of the universe.
Man has spent billions of dollars looking for the evidence of the origin of creation. Man has put forth a theory, the big bang. it is preposterous. But if you buy into it, you must ultimately ask the question, what caused the bang to bang? They must always be included in the list, the energy that causes the bang. But bangs are erratic. A bang is difficult to control. A bang defies the orderliness of billions of galaxies, each filled with billions of stars, all moving on what appears to be a prescribed course. The Creation says someone has been around for a very long time, longer than his or her best telescopes can peer in sheer terms of light years.
This man who can believe has the addition of certain combinations of stars called the constellations. no one quite knows how the symbols and names of these constellations and the stars within them originated. And yet, the symbols and the names are virtually the same throughout the earth. God spoke in divers manners and his diversity and creative powers caused Him to write a message across the heavens using stars as the medium. The message could be seen from anywhere on the face of the earth. Yet they cannot be read from any other location in the universe.
Finally, this God authors a book. He inspires over 40 writers writing over 4000 years to write his message. The theme in His Book is exactly the same as the story written in the stars. He opened his book, not with what appeared poetic, but with a grand statement of a Truth that would be contested vehemently. That same truth, God is the Creator, will be the focal point in a future attempt to take over the Earth by those who do not have the ownership rights! "The Earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof." The Lie will unravel the faith of most members, no matter what faith they are associated with. The Lie will be allowed and assisted by God, himself. It will be given to those who never received the "Love of the Truth." the only truth that will save them. It will be given to the professionally saved membership of this last Church Age, the Laodicean. The Lie will announce another creator and the Lie will be supported with overwhelming evidence. A Falling Away from the true faith will be the result of publishing the Lie. Persecution will be meted out to those who do not believe the LIE!
The Belief System:
The belief system is a wonderful gift given to man by God. It is also the only system Satan can use to accomplish his goals. With respect to God, God will accept into the fold of salvation anyone who believes that Jesus the Christ of Nazareth is indeed the Son of God and died for the sins of the world and was resurrected from the dead by the power of God. An individual could be visited by God while attending the local tavern and hears about that truth and believes it in heart, that person is saved right then on the spot! But that is only the beginning of the trip. Jesus said, "learn of me." He also said that his "indeed" disciples would continue in the Word. And those who would continue in the Word through all of the troubles and persecution that the word brings and has brought into their lives, they were given the guarantee of Knowing the truth about all things and this would make them free from all deception and error. That passage is the greatest blessing and prosperity verse in the entire bible but goes unnoticed by the blessing and prosperity preachers. That omission alone qualifies a false prophet, no matter how many people "come up" by believing his message. The truth isn't "out there": It's right here.
To
read more current revelations from Pastor Steve, check out his book published
September of 2017 on Amazon.com. It
gives crucial revelations about the rapture, strong delusion and the Lie.
https://smile.amazon.com/Gods-Final-Secret-Stephen-Benton/dp/1976338476/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1509271792&sr=1-1&keywords=god%27s+final+secret+by+stephen+benton
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