The Daily Word of Righteousness

The "Grace" Mystique, #8

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16—NIV)

A Christian having a cross pinned to his jacket was working to relieve the suffering of the refugees from Kosovo. One of the refugees, a Muslim, pointed to the cross and said: "You are the people who are murdering us."

The actions of the Serbian prelates as they bless those who are murdering and raping the people of Kosovo form the testimony given by Christian people who are not morally transformed. It would be better if they were not a part of the Christian religion because they portray the person of Satan rather than the Person of Jesus Christ. It would be well if the Irish Protestants and Catholics distanced themselves from Jesus Christ until they quit murdering each other.

How long will it be before we define salvation as moral transformation rather than a movement from earth to Heaven? How long will our Christianity be a dead religion rather than a moment by moment interaction with the living Christ?

The "grace" mystique. Grace is presented as a bubble in which the believer lives. God cannot see him except through the blood of Christ. There is no scriptural basis for the teaching that God sees us through the blood of Christ.

We are "saved" by a sovereign intervention of God unrelated to our behavior. We live in this bubble. We die in this bubble. We pass into the spirit realm in this bubble. God does not see us. He receives us by "grace," meaning He has forgiven us everything we have done, are doing, and yet will do. We are as Alice in Wonderland; as Dorothy in Oz.

There is no new creation. There is no transformation. There is no image of Christ. Everything is by imputation. There is no actual righteous kingdom, only a vision in God's mind.

What madness and folly this is! Yet it has such a grip on Christian thinking that it may never be removed.

The truth is, the kingdom of Satan is a real kingdom consisting of real people who reveal in themselves the works of Satan.

Are we going to combat the kingdom of Satan with a fantasy kingdom consisting of a vision in God's mind, a kingdom in which the people show in themselves the works of Satan? This is the Kingdom of God?

There is no such thing as a "state of grace." It is not scriptural.

The Kingdom of God does not regard the liar as a new creation by imputation. The Kingdom of God changes the liar into a truth teller.

The Kingdom of God does not regard the gossiper as a new creation by imputation. The Kingdom of God changes the gossiper into someone who intercedes for the saints.

The Kingdom of God changes us. The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

The Kingdom of God is not imputed righteousness, it is actual righteousness of personality and behavior.

The Kingdom of God is not imputed peace, it is actual peace in difficult circumstances.

The Kingdom of God is not imputed joy, it is actual joy in the human personality.

To be continued.