Part #4 of #6….. “DEAD OR ALIVE SETTLE IT NOW”….. Continued from Crumb 0047
“The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is both the hallmark and the very backbone of the true Christian faith.
The English dictionary meaning of backbone is,‘the most important part of something, providing support for everything else’.
The backbone is very foundation that holds all things together, and when that backbone is violated, things begin to fall apart.
It’s the same with our physical body, it’s the backbone that keeps it straight, upright and functional.
And when it come to our eternal destiny, it’s the resurrection of Christ Jesus which is the very backbone that holds it all together.
“As a believer in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our eternal destiny is irrevocably secure”.
Let us remind ourselves once again that we are living in what the Bible calls “The Age Of Grace”.
This has been going for the last two thousand and twenty years with God having just one sole purpose.
HE is calling out “a people for his Name” [Acts 15:14] and building what is called the “Body of Christ”, known as the Church.
God is saving people individually through the message of the Gospel, everyone and anyone who will just believe + nothing else.
We cannot stress enough that faith in Christ Jesus is totally void of any kind of religion or religious practice.
The Gospel of our salvation is a simple, yet profound and powerful, true ‘down to earth’ message of infallible hope.
Because that is what God actually did.
He came down to earth at our level, unlike religion that vainly attempts to go upwards to His level.
The only thing that religion has successfully accomplished is a one hundred percent failure, when it comes to our salvation.
Religion literally has successfully failed.
For it neither understands the fallen nature of man nor does it have any solution or answer for it.
It has no saving grace embedded within itself so it deceptively shows itself off through eye-catching mysticism.
It is a cosmetic cover for its self-contained body of lies and deception.
The Resurrection Of Christ Is The Backbone
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the very backbone of our faith in HIM.
Without the backbone of Christ’s Resurrection, our hope is all in vain.
Paul the apostle categorically tells us that if Christ Jesus is not risen then our faith “is in vain” [1 Corinthians 15:14].
The Bible tells us that, Jesus Christ was “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” [Romans 1:3-4].
That has never happened to any other man, for all men have that in-born sin nature. Jesus Christ never had that as explained in [Crumb 47].
Because Jesus Christ was born and remained sinless, His physical body was not capable of decay and decomposition.
[Acts 2:31] tells us that,“His flesh (physical body) did not see corruption”.
Further, because Jesus Christ had no sin hereditary in His blood, even physical death had no power over Him. That is why even the grave could not hold Him down.
Only sinless blood offered could be the perfect sacrifice.
That is why God could raise Him from the dead, to prove that Jesus Christ was indeed His “Only Begotten Son”.
That He indeed was biologically born of, Fathered by God, through a virgin woman.
It was a supernatural insemination. And that is what “begotten” is.
The Resurrection proved that.
Scripture in [Acts 13:34] through Paul the apostle puts it this way:
“And as concerning that He (God) raised Him (Jesus Christ) up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption…..”.
It’s the reason why this resurrection of Christ is the very backbone of our faith in Him.
Sonship and Deity of Jesus Christ
There are many who are always trying to disprove the Sonship and Deity of Jesus Christ.
One of the greatest contemporary adversaries of the Bible Truth is this one called Zakir Naik, who also happens to be a fugitive on the run.
He did not just flee from India in 2016, he is also fleeing from the Truth of Christ. So that really makes him a double fugitive.
He convincingly twists words from the four Gospels like “Son of God” and “begotten Son”, deceiving thousands including Christ believers.
That is why we “must know” why we believe what we believe.
Because people like Zakir Naik are out there, seeking to destroy the Truth of the Gospel.
They are trying to destroy the truth of the very foundational backbone of Christ’s resurrection.
This guy even uses the “King James Bible”, with the Words of Christ in red to do just that.
What a perfect emissary of Satan he is! Because Satan tried exactly that with Jesus Christ in [Matthew 4:1-11] and [Luke 4:1-13].
The Cross Nullifies All Religious Attempts
The message of the cross, the Bible says is a foolish one to the world [1 Corinthians 1:18].
And yet, it is the only message that can make the claim it makes for an eternal salvation without religious works.
Because of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the cross stamps it authority as being the “only” way.
It is the only thing that can rightfully make the claim, that there is simply “no other way” to heaven.
Hence it causes offence, for it “nullifies” all attempts of man through religion.
And yet it is the “ONLY HOPE”.
We are living in days where all religious beliefs are being accommodated so as to not cause offence.
“Accommodative Theology” – Has Christendom fallen for the trap or simply lost its metal? A question worth asking indeed!
And the devil has no problem with that. He loves it and is laughing.
All he is concerned about is, “Keep the focus off Christ’s Cross”, and he’s got the victory.
He loves religious teamwork to keep the Truth of the Gospel at bay.
The Trap Of Religion
Religion, in its various different forms, is a deadly trap of our adversary Satan.
They have a deceptive “form of godliness” [2 Timothy 3:5]. Paul the apostle warns us to be on our guard from them and “turn away”.
And what these religious gurus don’t realize is that their master is waiting for them.
“Walk into my parlour said the spider to the fly” [Mary Howitt 1828].
Having enticed them successfully, Satan now uses them as bait extending the same “parlour invitation” to multiple thousands.
Nothing has changed.
Satan is still the “father of lies”, and has a perfect son in Zakir Naik, a man saturated with sinister darkness.
It was a sad sight to watch a poor Christian pastor being publicly humiliated by Naik.
Why? Because of a, “lack of knowledge” of the Truth.
If Paul the Apostle had been there, people like Zakir Naik would run for their lives.
For Paul would have gone for the jugular with the Scriptures.
We need to be aware that there are many such people out there.
That is why we as Christians need to stay very close to Paul the Apostle and diligently learn from him.
He alone is our designated Apostle. He alone can give us the, “the whole counsel of God” [Acts 20:27].
Changing Our Dwelling Place
If we refuse to change our dwelling place from the four Gospels to Paul’s Epistles, the devil will have us for breakfast.
We will have the devil audibly telling us, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you? And he will humiliate you [Acts 19:15-16].
We need to seriously give this its long overdue consideration. For the time is extremely short and deception is operating at its highest peak, firing fully on all cylinders.
“Can you not discern the signs of the times?” is still a highly relevant and valid question Jesus asks today. [Matthew 16:3]
It time we get “street smart” like Paul the Apostle.
Religion, Where Is Thy Sting?
Faith in the Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, without religious works, decimates religion with its works.
This “Living Faith” annihilates and strips religion of all its deceptive power, for it has “NOTHING” of substance to offer.
All that religion is, is a cosmetic godly covering for abject ungodliness. And the day is fast approaching, when this mask will be stripped off.
It’s a hard saying but true, the only thing religion guarantees is an eternity in hell.
For every known pagan religion finds its origin and roots in the, “Tower of Babel” [Genesis 10:10] and [Genesis 11:9].
“Babel” means “confusion”, and that is exactly what religion is designed by its father and founder Satan to do.
Jesus Christ did not come to establish a religion but to save a lost humanity.
His birth, life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension, proves exactly that.
By going to the Cross, He opened the way for all of humanity to reconcile with God without condemnation.
And in the process, He destroyed every known religion with its practices.
“ONY BELIEVE”, is the only criteria.
So Where Does All This Leave Us?
It leaves us with a choice and it is a God-given choice. Since God gave it, He will “never” infringe upon it.
Do we embrace the Cross with the backbone of the resurrection or do we go in the way of the world and maybe, just look religiously good?
Should we embrace the Cross by faith + nothing, or put our hope in our own good deeds as religion teaches?
Is it going to be “NO” to Christ, “I’ll do it my way, or is it going to be:
“Good-bye religion, Hello Jesus Christ”
To be continued in part #5 of the next Crumb.
