Quote from Forum Archives on July 7, 2010, 12:39 pm

Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

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The Burning Bush Devotional
Welcome to the 660 new subscribers since January 1, 2010!!
There were 1367 new subscribers during 2009!!

07.07.10

The Real Thing

I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the
grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are
some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if
we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we
have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I
say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have
received, let him be accursed. - Galatians 1:6-9.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are
His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand that we should walk in them. - Ephesians 2:8-10.

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy
He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy
Spirit. - Titus 3:5.

In Frankfurt, Germany, a wannabe smuggler was stopped with what appeared to
be a huge "blood diamond" from Angola. If real it would have been worth more
than $3.3 million dollars but it was examined and found to be only a good
fake worth about $27 dollars. The man carrying the fake diamond was actually
disappointed that he was not arrested for smuggling because he apparently
had paid a fortune for it.

There are not only fake things, there are also fake people. This morning I
noticed a story about a young woman who had an online relationship with
someone for a couple of years. She was in love, until her parents discovered
the identity of the person was actually her best friend, a woman. Then, she
was angry and heartbroken. It is a problem with one of my groups that I have
on facebook that people create false profiles and join the group attempting
to have members visit their websites once they become their online friends.

The Galatians had a problem with fakery too. The apostle Paul points out the
problem in his letter to the Galatians. The problem began when those called
Judaizers came and began spreading their false teaching. Basically, the
Judaizers taught that in order to have salvation you still had to keep all
of the Old Testament Laws including being circumcised. Paul says clearly
that this is a fake gospel. In Ephesians 2:8-10 it is clear that there is
not a requirement to be circumcised prior to receiving the gift of eternal
life. Also, there is no requirement that all of the commandments be kept
perfectly prior to receiving the gift of eternal life. Paul uses a very
strong word in his condemnation of those trying to pervert the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. He says they should be "accursed." I believe Paul would say
the same thing to those today who try to add in works as a requirement for
having the gift of God, eternal life.

Have you been deceived by the Judaizers of today into thinking that you have
to be a perfect person before you can have Jesus as your Savior? One of my
friends when I attempted to share Jesus with him said that he could never be
good enough to go to Heaven. He was a member of a church that taught a works
based salvation. He never went to church because he didn't think that he
could ever be good enough. As far as I know he died without knowing Jesus as
His Savior because of this false teaching. It is a false teaching because
not only does Paul say that it is but also the apostle John indicates that
it is when he writes in 1 John 5:13, "These things I have written to you who
believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have
eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of
God." If you are working your way to Heaven you can never "know" whether you
have done enough or not. John says you can "know" that you have eternal
life.

Do you "know" that you have eternal life or have you fallen for one of those
fake gospels that the apostle Paul warns about?

Copyright © 2010. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush website has
been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the
Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather began writing devotionals
in the early 1990s. The distribution of these first devotionals was
primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison facilities
throughout the United States and Canada.

Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer
Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and they will be
forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am always in need
of prayer - please pray for me.).

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Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube (now Tangle) at:
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You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
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There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
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