Must I Be Saved? (Part 1)

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Do we really need salvation? Is Christianity a hoax?

Is it necessary that a person be born again?

Can we really trust what is written in the Bible?

by Gillis Triplett

Sometimes Life Seems To Offer More Questions Than Answers…
Mankind has pondered and asked these questions throughout the ages. “Does God really exist? Is there a heaven and/or hell? If there is, does one earn the right to go to heaven or do we freely inherit citizenship? If one has to earn his or her way into heaven, what type of work or deeds must they perform? If gaining entrance into heaven is through an inheritance, who qualifies and how will they know? Which religion is right? The Jehovah Witnesses? The Catholics? The Muslims? The Mormons?

And what about the numerous denominations? They are so confusing with their conflicting doctrines and beliefs… Who do you believe? The Baptist? The Methodist? The Presbyterians? The Pentecostals? How can I know what church, temple, or synagogue to attend? Do I really need to go to church? How can I know for sure if there is life after death? Is it really a necessity for me to be born again?”

The lists of questions are never ending concerning God and eternal life. There will always be heated debates about evolution and various philosophical dissertations about God. I don't know about you but the questions you just read are way too critical to leave to chance by believing or relying on an unproven theory. If there is a heaven and hell and if there is a final judgment day for each of us, then we need to find out about it today!

Rolling The Dice With Your Life?
I’m not going to wait until it is too late to try to get my act together. I’m not going to allow my eternal security, if there is such a thing, to rest upon if, and, but, maybe, possibly so, what are the chances of, or theoretically speaking. You can take a chance and roll the dice with your life, but what if you’re wrong?

When I first moved to Atlanta, Georgia, I was unaware of some of the peculiar driving laws. Because of my lack of knowledge, I ended up receiving a citation from an Atlanta Police Officer that required either paying a fine or appearing in court. I chose to make my appeal to the Traffic Court Judge. While in court, I noticed there was a considerable amount of people who were there because they had received a citation for driving without automobile insurance.

As I listened to those individuals plead with the judge, many of them had seemingly valid reasons for not having insurance the day they received their citation.

Some people were just one paycheck away from getting insurance before they got ticketed. Others were working two jobs to put together enough money to pay for insurance, but they got the ticket right before their plan came together. After listening to the heart touching accounts of the things these people had planned to do and were doing in order to get auto insurance, the judge was not moved. He upheld what was written in the Georgia State law books. And the law stated that you must have automobile insurance in order to drive a motor vehicle on the roads, in the state of Georgia. Period!

It was gut-wrenching listening to individuals, (some broke down in tears) as they tried to explain to the judge what would happen to them, if they lost their driver’s license. A number of people purchased automobile insurance immediately after they receiving their ticket. They believed if they came into court with proof of obtaining auto insurance after receiving the ticket, the citation would be dismissed. But it was too late. Not one person who was cited for driving without insurance walked out of court that day without paying a hefty fine, losing their license, or being incarcerated, or all of the above.

The only ones whose cases were dismissed without a paying a fine or penalty were the people who could prove they had auto insurance the day they received the citation. Those individuals could breathe a sigh of relief when their name was called to appear before the judge. Why? Because they met the requirements written in the Georgia State law books. If there is no heaven or hell, you’ve got nothing to lose. But if there is, and you refuse or fail to obtain the insurance policy necessary to enter heaven, then just like the people who stood before that Traffic Court Judge, you are in big trouble!

Where Did We Come From?
The first thing we need to agree on is that without the Scriptures we would know absolutely nothing about God. Had there been no Bible we wouldn’t have a clue about heaven, hell, morals, values, sin, or eternal life. If no one had ever preached about being born-again or about being saved, I guarantee, you would’ve never thought about it on your own. As a matter of fact, mankind would have no idea about marriage because marriage was revealed to us from the Bible. If there were no Scriptures, there would be no marriage. Even primitive cultures that believe in marriage, can trace the origin of their beliefs back to the Word of God. Frankly, if God had left man in charge to figure out how he should commingle with a woman, you and I both know, the majority of society would run buck wild! Let’s go to the Word of God and examine how life, as we know it, got started.

Genesis 1:8,10,16,21
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven.
10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering of the waters called He Seas...
16 And God made two great lights; the greater to rule the day, and the lesser to rule the night: He made the stars also.
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth...

From the Scriptures we can conclude that it was God who created the Heaven and Earth. We can also conclude that He created everything in the heavens and in the earth - the sun, the moon and the stars and all living creatures. Now let’s read a little further.

Genesis 1:26,27
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:...
27 So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.

Genesis 2:7
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breathe of life; and man became a living soul.

We now have the complete picture. Things didn't come together because of a violent cataclysmic explosion. It was God who systematically and methodically, designed, then created the heavens and the earth… then He filled what He created with a wide selection of glorious lights, creatures of all kinds and every type of herb and plant known to man. It was God who created the gold, the diamonds, the onyx stone and the oil, etc., and then, after the Genesis 1:26 Summit Meeting, God-the Father, God-the Son and God–the Holy Spirit, created man, both male and female. The next set of critical questions, are, who wrote the Bible and why?

Revelation 14:13
And I heard voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

II Peter 1:21
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

II Timothy 3:16-17
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

The Scriptures reveal that holy men of God wrote the Bible under the inspiration of Almighty God. In other words, the Bible didn’t come to us by the hands of a psychotic dictator, a fanatical religious regime, or some drug crazed spiritual zealot. These men heard God speak and they recorded what they heard. They were stenographers for God.

Some Serious Questions…
We’ve learned how God moved upon certain men’s hearts and inspired them to record His Words. That knowledge presents us with another list of questions. Is God adding anything else to the Bible through today’s prophets? Does God have any addendums to the Bible such as the Book of Mormon? Can we (mankind) add anything to the Scriptures that is not already there?

Can a group of bishops or other religious people get together and vote on issues such as abortion, homosexuality, marriage, drinking, divorce, etc.? Did God have a cutoff from adding other Scriptures to the Bible? Can we take Scriptures out of the Bible or alter the Scriptures to fit a certain religion or denominational viewpoint? Let’s go back to the Word of God and get the answers to those all-important questions.

Revelation 22:18-19
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of the book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

With that solemn pronouncement found in the last chapter of the last book of the Bible and in two of the last four verses, the Scriptures were forever closed. After that point, there are no authorized addendums, additions, changes, attachments, or other testaments. Everything else and anything else is a strictly prohibited unauthorized version. To answer the question can any man, denomination, or religious organization vote on an issue revealed in the Written Word of God, the answer is a resounding, “No!” It does not matter what the issue is, God has settled the matter in heaven.

Psalms 119:89
For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.

God issued His decree through His Written Word on any and all subjects. And! He expects the Believer to obey that Word. Not add to it, alter it, or vote on it. When you see people who claim to be ministers, bishops, priests or followers of God, altering, adding to, taking away or voting on issues already established in the Word of God, that is your irrefutable proof of a false prophet or a corrupt ministry. Based on all that we have read and learned thus far, if we are going to get the answers to questions such as, "Is there a heaven or hell? Is there a need for salvation? Is there life after death?”

We must go to the only true source, the Scriptures, to get our answers. Any other source can only be considered, at best, 13.97% accurate. That 13.97% figure is based on scientific studies that say the average person uses maybe 10% of their brain's capacity, (I spotted you 3.97%). Even Einstein was said to have only used maybe 20% of his brainpower, and that most likely was a gross over estimation.

Are you willing to gamble with your life with such dismal odds?
Would you jump from an airplane at 20,000 feet, knowing your parachute only had a 13.97% chance of opening? Are you willing to gamble with your life on a 13.97% possibility that Darwin’s theory of evolution might be right? Are you brazen enough to roll the dice and adopt the beliefs of the free-thinking atheists, who say, “There is no credible scientific or factually reliable evidence for the existence of God or the supernatural,” knowing they could be 86.03% wrong? Before you answer those questions, let's examine what the Written Word of God says about death, heaven, hell, sin, justification, eternal life, judgment and eternal damnation.

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