It is very sad to observe that many people who claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ hardly live up to his expectation in their imitation of his character. In particular, Jesus Christ has told his disciples not to live like the Pharisees of his day in craving for titles and recognition by men. They were not to work in search of vainglory from and of men. They were to imitate his simplicity, selflessness, shyness for publicity, and humility.

In this regard, here is a caution of Jesus Christ to his loyal disciples: “But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.” (Matthew 23: 8-10, King James Version, KJV).

These clear and simple words of Jesus Christ spoken directly to his disciples still stand good for the obedience of all his loyal and dedicated disciples today. But I wonder how many people who claim to be Christians (disciples of Jesus Christ?) do know of these verses of scripture and obey them.

It is shocking to know that some denominations, which profess to be loyal to the Christian faith, have their leaders addressed “father” or “papa” in obvious disregard to this command of the Master. I am at a loss to know whose disciples the members of such denominations truly are.

Jesus Christ has said that, all the doctrines, commandments and instructions which he has taught mankind are not his own, but God’s. Any deviations from, or violations, of Jesus’ teachings therefore, are a direct affront to God in Heaven, who sent him. All true disciples of Jesus Christ must know and be very careful in this.

The reason why Jesus Christ commands his disciples not to seek to award themselves titles, and or desire the praises of men, is to ensure they never exalt themselves. He warns that any one of his disciples who exalts himself shall be brought down; but he who would humble himself would be exalted (cf. Matthew 23: 11-12).

For me, and I am sure for many loyal and dedicated disciples of Jesus Christ, the scary nature of his warning is enough to make one comply. But alas, many more people who seem to be very educated in the secular sense, and also claim to be dedicated to the cause of the Master, do not seem to be bothered by this warning and, therefore, disregard it with glee. They seek the praise of men and are excited when men heap upon their heads titles, appellations and accolades.

Let me say, the thing the Devil enjoys most is praise, and worship. In envy therefore, when yet in Heaven under the name Lucifer, he could not stand the sight of thousands of angels worshiping God. He coveted the praise and worship God’s angels gave to Him.

As a result, he staged a mutiny in Heaven, with a large following of angels, in attempt to take praise and worship from God to himself. Mortal man must therefore be wary of the praise, titles, appellations and accolades heaped on him by his fellow-men, since love for them could draw him into the same lust Lucifer had.

Immediately after the devil lost the mutiny he staged in Heaven (when he tried to take-over the ruler-ship of God from Him), and was cast upon the earth, he started his second and now seemingly unending-campaign, toward his diabolical plan to usurp the authority of God over His Creation.

He has been strategizing subtly and stealthily, in diverse ways, to lead man away from obeying God’s commandments and, therefore, into his dominion. While doing this, he has his eyes set on the titles which belong to God and His Christ. The ultimate aim of the Devil is to usurp the status and power of God, whereby all Creation will then praise and worship him as God.

One way by which the devil is subtly and stealthily working his way toward achieving his ambitions, is through attack on the genuine structure of the Church of Jesus Christ. By confusing many people about the true structure of the Church (the Body of Christ), he seems to be gradually achieving his ambitions.

Not many people today know the true structure of the Church of Jesus Christ. You cannot fully blame today’s generation for this. The fact is, with time, as the Christian faith of the immediate post-ascension era travelled out of the lands of Palestine and Asia Minor, heading toward the West, it gradually began to lose its structure, character, power, purity in doctrine and practice.

Today’s Christian faith is a sorry-state of what it was when it first came into being in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. The Christian faith today is devoid of much of its glory, power, holiness, pure doctrines, unique influence as the salt and light of the world, and reverential practices which characterized it at its inception.

You may have to read two great books by Richard Rives, entitled, “Too Long in the Sun” and “Time is the Ally of Deceit”, to appreciate this fact.

From the revelation of the Bible, the Body of Christ is synonymous with the Human Body: the Church is a living organism with parts which function like the body-parts of man. It is obvious that all parts of the human body are of equal importance and no part lords (and lauds) itself over the others.

Read the Book of First Corinthians, chapter twelve, from verse one to thirty-one (First Corinthians 12: 1-31) to understand what the Word of God reveals and teaches about how the Body of Christ (the Church) does and must function.

Even though the human brain, together with the central nervous system, coordinates the actions of all the parts of the body, it cannot claim importance or headship over the other parts. In the human body, no part can do without the other and neither can the whole body function properly without any one part. All parts are needed, and perform their individual and unique functions for the common good of the entire body.

The Church – the Body of Christ – must be seen in similar light as the human body. The Church has a very simple structure. Jesus Christ is the Head. All other members are equal parts to this Body and are directly connected to the Head.

All these parts therefore take instructions and directives from the Head directly. They are able to function only in, by and of the Head. Also, all parts of the Body report directly to the Head.

Sadly, many people think of the Church as an organization and not as an organism. They see it as a human institution housed in some Victorian Age masonry building, with people of various statuses occupying special positions. In this organization, wrongly called the Church, every member is made to report to some other(s), higher-up in some hierarchical order.

The notion that the Church is an organization with a powerful hierarchical structure is a teaching of the devil. By this teaching, the devil has succeeded in getting many simple-minded people of the world to live in error of the true structure of the Church.

Over a period close to two millennia, after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, many people have become comfortable believing that the Church is an organization with a hierarchical order, and never even think of it as an organism.

This false belief about the structure of the Church has become a stronghold in the minds of mankind. It is this stronghold which the devil is capitalizing and gradually building on, in his bid to take-over the world from God’s influence.

It is sad that many people do not know the true structure of the Church of Jesus Christ, as revealed to mankind in the Word of God. For many people, the Church is made up of clergy and laity; whatever the words clergy and laity mean in or to the Church, since they are not part of God’s vocabulary found in the Bible to teach the Church.

Many people professing to be Christians do not even know that these words (clergy, laity or laymen) are strange and alien to the true Christian faith. Many people are satisfied, instead of being angered, when others call them laity or laymen in description of their roles in the Church. [—this article is continued in Part Three: soon to be published].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

Many people might be irritated, or even angered, by this headline to my article. Many more may deem it silly to even pose the question – Are “reverend” ministers also disciples of Jesus Christ? It might seem silly to pose this question because to many people, “reverend” ministers are lead-disciples of Jesus Christ.

Let me assure my readers that it is for the love of all the men who are addressed by the title “reverend”, and their many followers, that I ask this question and go on to answer it in the light of the bible-revelation. So, if you are irritated or angered by my title, just stay calm and you will be blessed in reading this article.

Without a shadow of doubt, the greatest man that ever lived on Planet Earth is Jesus Christ. Even though followers of some renowned personalities who once lived on our earth claim that their icons never die, it is only of Jesus Christ that such an assertion is true: since he alone is alive and lives forever.

The main proof to the fact that Jesus Christ is the greatest of all men who ever walked our earth and is alive forevermore, is, he is able to manifest himself today through his genuine disciples. Oh yes, he clearly manifests himself in all his loyal and dedicated disciples, who do the genuine work given to them by him to do, on his behalf, and in his name.

Just before his ascension into Heaven, Jesus Christ commissioned his disciples to do two jobs for him, and on his behalf. These jobs, all loyal disciples of the Master must execute throughout all times and seasons of the Grace Dispensation. The proper execution of these jobs by any people is proof of their genuineness, as his disciples.

Any man who does these jobs in loyalty, dedication and dependence upon the words of direction and instruction of Jesus Christ, will have manifested in him, Jesus’ full persona for all to see. In other words, people will see manifested in these loyal disciples, the personality, wisdom, power, success, and glory of Jesus Christ.

The two jobs which Jesus Christ has given to his loyal disciples to do are in a healing and teaching ministry – taking sickness and disease out of the bodies of men, and teaching sinful-mankind the way to be reconciled with God.

When on earth, toward empowering his chosen twelve disciples to do these jobs, Jesus Christ took them through four years of discipleship-training.

He taught and demonstrated to them, how they were to heal the sick of all manner of diseases; give life and strength to impotent-halts, paralytics and cripples; open blind eyes and unplug deaf ears; and also bring the dead back to life.

He taught them how to do these by uttering his Words through faith in his name, without the use of any man-made remedies, and, with their bare, but highly-anointed, hands.

For the task of leading salvation-seekers to be reconciled with God and thereby become eligible to enter the Kingdom of God on Earth and in Heaven, he taught them in very simple and plain words, in the Great Commission statement laid out in Matthew 28: 18-20, Mark 16: 15-16 and Luke 24: 46-48, how they were to do this.

Beside the four-year discipleship-training Jesus Christ gave to his disciples, they also needed to be empowered of the Holy Spirit of God, if they were to be able to execute their God-ordained tasks of soul-winning and of healing mankind of sickness and disease.

These are the same tasks Jesus Christ executed for the Kingdom of God while on earth. He was able to execute them because he was always conscious of the fact that God (his Father) resided in him and so drew on the power of His indwelling presence for the execution of any jobs he was sent to do for Him.

As such, if any disciples of Jesus Christ are to be successful in executing their assignments, for and on his behalf, they must have a consciousness that God indwelt them. They must in this consciousness, depend on and be able to tap His power, in execution of their assignments for the Kingdom of God.

Jesus Christ made it plain to his disciples that he was unable to do anything without depending on God. Similarly, no disciple today can do any assignments for the Master, without depending on his word of instruction, wisdom in his actions, and the presence of God residing in them.

The numerous conversions of sinners, to faith in the name of Jesus Christ and into God’s salvation, during the early days of the Church-age, were the result of the disciples of Jesus Christ, doing exactly what they were told to do by the Master in the Great Commission.

We see genuine and loyal disciples of Jesus Christ achieve fantastic feats in the Great Commission, during the early days of the post-Ascension era, because they were cut out for the task, through a four-year period in discipleship-training by the Master himself, and through the power of the Holy Spirit of God who indwelt their spirits.

Today, from his position on the right hand side of the Throne of God in Heaven, Jesus Christ is impacting and changing lives more than he ever did in the four years he was physically present on Planet Earth with the mandate of God to do so.

This is because he ensures from his position in Heaven, beside the Throne of The Father, that whatever promises he has made to his genuine, loyal and dedicated disciples, become fulfilled in their lives when they accept to act in simple faith in his word.

True disciples of Jesus Christ are those who make every effort to obey, imitate and act like him in every way. Just as Jesus Christ said he imitated whatever he saw the Father doing, for success in his earthly ministry, so must his genuine disciples also imitate his ways for success in all their assignments.

The successes of any disciples in doing any work he elects them to do, depend on three things. The first is that one must have knowledge and wisdom of Jesus’ word and ways. The second is for one to be sensitive of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit of God in one and how to live in dependence on His power within.

The third is for one to have the character trait of the Master. This character trait of the Master is what we see manifest in the rare kind of love, compassion, selflessness, denial of praise of mankind, a life devoid of pride and arrogance, availability, et cetera, he showed the world. The ability of any person to possess and live by all three abilities marks one as a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ.

Any disciples, who do not have these virtues of Jesus’ character, cannot be successful in any assignments given them by the Master. You cannot be a successful disciple of Jesus Christ if, for example, you delight in the praise of men, or are without the compassion of the Master for people, or are not as selfless as he was, or are not gentle, or make it very hard and nearly to being impossible for strangers and the under privileged to get to you.

Also, if for example, one is boisterous, even while preaching on a so-called altar, (running, ranting, raving, shouting, jumping and gyrating as if on a theater stage), one cannot be a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ. I know in many of today’s denominational groupings, a display of such a wild trait in one’s character is accepted as high-level spirituality or charisma.

Sadly, these wild behaviours by so-called anointed men of God, contradict the portrait painted in the Bible of the Master, as being a gentle and calm character, who never shouted in the street. These behaviours make it impossible for any men to be suitable and relevant for any assignments in the Church of Jesus Christ. [—this article is continued in Part Two: soon to be published].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

To give a definite answer to the question about what one should do to enter the salvation of God, I say this: repent sincerely of your sins when told about the Gospel of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and then, get baptized in His name, by being immersed in natural, living-water, by a genuine servant of God.

That is the way of God and of His son Jesus Christ for one to become Born Again. It was also the way of the apostles. It must therefore be our way today, if we are to be Born Again, or saved, or enter God’s Kingdom.

Who in the Bible accounts said a prayer to be saved? From all the Bible narratives about the salvation of people, which one of them did not hinge on repentance and baptism?

You will not get one single evidence in all your search of the Bible, where prayer, and for that matter a so-called Sinners’ Prayer or Prayer for Salvation, brought any salvation-seeker the Born Again experience. Do not therefore trust in prayer to get Born Again.

In the Great Commission of Luke 24:46-48, Jesus authoritatively teaches that only repentance and remission of sin can bring any salvation-seeker into the Born Again experience.

I like to tell you in all seriousness that, remission of sin is different from forgiveness of sin. Sadly, the understanding of many preachers of the Bible is that remission of sin is the same as forgiveness of sin.

This stance is what takes many preachers of the Bible into the error of asking in prayer, for the forgiveness of their sins, in their bid to qualify to enter the Kingdom of God.

Forgiveness of sin is what you can get from God by repenting of your sin, and confessing it, silently or audibly to Him. Forgiveness of sin is also what a fellow human being can give to you, when you repent of your sin of causing him (or her) some hurt, and ask for it.

Furthermore, forgiveness of sin is what Jesus could give to people who he saw to be sick in consequence of their sins, as He crisscrossed the land of the Jews before going to Calvary.

Forgiveness of sin is what Jesus could ask of the Father to give to those who insulted Him, slapped Him, derided Him, or nailed Him to the cross of crucifixion, even before he died in their hands to bring salvation to mankind.

On the other hand, remission of sin is what Jesus could only make available in His death. He announced at the Last Supper, to His disciples that, He was going to the cross to make available remission of sins for everybody.

Jesus Christ in His sacrifice made remission of sin to be available and beneficial to all righteous mankind, from Creation to End-time. His sacrifice was to bring remission of sin to those who were even dead before His sacrifice; those living at the time of the sacrifice; and all who would come into the world after His sacrifice.

Remission of sin is what God demands of any members of the human race whose desire it is to obtain reconciliation with Him. Jesus Christ came as the Lamb of God, to pay for the sins of mankind, to enable God grant anyone who believes in, and accepts this sacrifice, the chance to obtain remission of sin.

The payment of the ransom by Jesus, to enable God grant mankind deliverance from the power and dominion of sin, are what constitute remission of sin.

John the Baptist went crying in the wilderness of Jordan, teaching Israel about a fast-coming salvation of God that was to be made available to mankind only in remission of sin (Luke 1:77, King James Version, KJV).

That was the good news John the Baptist was sent to proclaim to all Israelites, at a time they were already enjoying the blessings of forgiveness as one of two ways that God dealt with sin in their lives. The other was by atonement of sin.

Remission of sin is obtained from God, not by asking for it verbally, but in the obedience of His instructions on repentance and baptism into the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38, KJV).

If you want to enter the blessing of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, you do not ask for it in prayer, you access it by taping the right keys of God’s information-system. These keys, which one must strike to enter the salvation of God are, ‘repentance’ and ‘baptism’.

Repentance and baptism will usher every repentant sinner into the state of remission of sin. When one enters into this state, one gets the gift of the Holy Spirit of God to indwell one’s heart. This is our assurance of being in God’s salvation from the accounts of Acts 2:37-39, KJV. This assurance is what has been enjoyed by men since the Day of Pentecost.

Remission of sin is payment by Christ of our debt of sin. Remission of sin takes the sin-nature out of our spirit and body. Remission of sin comes to sinners only once in their life-time. It therefore contrasts greatly from forgiveness, which can come as many as ‘seventy times seven’ times, even in one day, quoting the words of the Master. In further contrast, man can render forgiveness of sin to fellow men, whilst remission of sin can only be given by God to sinful-man.

A book written by me that teaches on these issues is on sale in Ghana. It is entitled “BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation”.

In this book, the true doctrine of God’s salvation is taught. The false doctrine of Sinners’ Prayer recitals and the prayers of preachers for sinners to get Born Again are also taught. Please get a copy of it. It will bless you richly. It will put you on the right track into the Kingdom of God.

In my above mentioned book, advice is given to salvation-seekers to read the New Testament as God’s Final Theocratic Constitution. This Constitution contains articles on how humans on our earth can gain membership to the Kingdom of God. Also, one can find in it, clauses and sub-clauses on son-ship and adoption of mankind as children into the kingdom of God.

When one is conversant with this constitution, one will easily see the practice of Sinners’ Prayer recitals in attempt by salvation-seekers to enter the kingdom of God as unconstitutional and therefore powerless in enabling salvation-seekers become Born Again; and therefore denounce the practice.

Study the Bible in the spirit of serious-minded salvation-seekers who Apostle Paul met in Berea, of Acts 17: 10-11 fame, and you will easily see the Sinners’ Prayer recitals as absolutely incapable of making mankind Born Again.

God’s Theocratic Constitution will spell out to all subscribers to it, their privileges, responsibilities, code of conduct, status, and future rewards in Heaven for their service to this constitution when they were on earth. Please study this Constitution to be approved by God. You will be tested by it. You will be blessed by it. You will also be judged by it.

You can never be blessed by any passionate, zealous, or sincere recitals of a so-called “Sinners’ Prayer” or “Prayer for Salvation”, in your quest to become Born Again into the kingdom of God. May you therefore please seek to obtain the Born Again experience through your obedience of God’s Word to you to repent of your sins and to be baptised into Christ.

Shalom, peace from God the Almighty to you.
Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and is the author of book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

Dear reader, I am happy that you and I are living in the same times and seasons, according to the plan of God Almighty. I am particularly happy that you are reading this article that God has led me to write on the Born Again doctrine of the Christian faith.

My prayer for you is that, before the generations after us come to benefit by some rare teachings on salvation that God has led me to render to humanity, you my precious contemporary, would have been blessed ahead of them.

If you are serious about the Christian faith, as I am, and are an ardent listener to radio broadcasts or a viewer of television programmes of teachings by some pastors, general overseers, apostles, archbishops, etc., you might have observed something I am about to bring to your attention as an error to the Christian faith.

This error has persisted for a very long time, centuries in fact, and has therefore gained acceptance as genuine that, it passes as being able to deliver on its promises when in fact it cannot.

Did you hear the preacher-man on radio, or watch him on television this past week? Did you hear him at the end of his preaching ask you to do something if you wanted to be Born Again into God’s Kingdom? Did you hear him instruct you to place your hand on the radio or television set, and to pray a prayer after him, if you were repentant of your sinful-life, and wanted Jesus to take control of your life or get to be Born Again?

As for me I hear these every day. If you do not, begin to listen to preachers (Men of God?) on radio and television.

The prayer they ask their listeners to recite after them, when these preachers are ending their programmes on radio or television, is known by many as the “Sinners’ Prayer” or the “Prayer for Salvation”.

This is a prayer of confession of sins by repentant sinners who want to enter the Born Again experience, or start life all-over, after the power of sin has messed-up their lives. It is also a denunciation of the devil, request for God’s forgiveness, and the profession of Jesus Christ as one’s Lord and Master.

The faith of the proponents of this doctrine is that, if any sinner repents of his sins, recites this prayer after the preachers of it, in sincerity and all seriousness of heart, they are instantly Born Again! Their claim is that, they are instantly passed from death to life and have had their names written into the Lamb’s Book of Life, if they were sincere in saying that prayer!

Dear reader, I would let you know that, if you ever did that, trusting the word of pious- and or sanctimonious-looking persons, who seemed worthy of your trust, then you were deceived. Nobody can get Born Again by and of prayer: be it known as the Sinners’ Prayer or the Prayer for Salvation.

Maybe, the peddlers of this doctrine are themselves ignorant that prayer cannot make one Born Again. In fact, that is the sad aspect of this doctrine – many of its proponents do not know they are in error.

Could it be that after-all, the preachers of this wrong doctrine are simply being mischievous, and cashing-in on the ignorance and gullibility of their listeners and therefore deliberately teach falsehood? I do not want to think so, even though at times one is tempted to.

What did Jesus say to Nicodemus about how anybody can ever enter into the Kingdom of God? Did Jesus say to Nicodemus to pray to enter into His salvation? Did Peter, on his very first assignment to lead people into the Born Again experience on the Day of Pentecost, instruct his listeners to pray some special prayer to be saved?

From all the Bible accounts, nobody ever said a prayer to be saved, or get Born Again. Why is it then so popular a practice for salvation-seekers to be told by so-called Men of God to recite special prayers after them so as to become Born Again?

Simply put, the practice of Sinners’ Prayer recitals for salvation is a deception of the devil. This all men should be aware of and denounce the instructions of so-called Men of God to pray special prayers for salvation.

So what must one do to be saved? The answer is to do what a jailor in the city of Philippi did in the early days of the Christian faith (Acts 16:25-34). Was this jailor not the first from the Bible accounts to ask this same question?

To answer the question of this jailor in Philippi, Paul and Silas at midnight, taught him to believe in Jesus if he wanted to be saved. They did not stop there. They went further to explain themselves.

At the end of it all, this jailor rushed to obey the word of Paul and Silas, so he could be saved. At an odd, inconvenient, discomforting, midnight-hour, this jailor rushed out of his home to be baptized in the river on whose bank the city of Philippi was built (Acts 16:12-13, 30-33) in his quest to be saved.

This jailor did nothing like reciting a so-called Sinners’ Prayer or a Prayer for Salvation to enter God’s salvation. He was properly led into the salvation of God by people who were truly sent by God.

This jailor was saved in the ministry of God-called, God-taught, God-anointed, and God-sent, obedient, loyal, and well-informed disciples of Jesus Christ. Sadly, ministers of such glorious credentials are hard to come-by in our world today.

Anybody today, who does not teach the doctrine that Jesus taught Nicodemus (John 3:3-5), or Peter did on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:37-41), or by Philip to an Ethiopian in the desert of Gaza (Acts 8:26-40), or by Ananias in his ministration of salvation to Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:10-18), has deviated from the genuine way of teaching God’s salvation.

All who follow such a one, are also off-course, in as-much-as getting into God’s Kingdom is their ambition. I hope I can bless your life with this truth: a truth I am charged by God to warn my generation in. [—the concluding part of this article is in Part Two: soon to be published].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

For forgiveness, one must repent of the sin and confess it verbally to God, and the wronged person, to be able to receive it. In the case of remission, one must repent of the sin and be baptized in (or into) the name of Jesus Christ, to come into the power it has, of putting the salvation-seeker into the full blessings of Christ’s sacrifice on The Cross.

When so-called Men of God gather salvation-seekers, on what they term “crusade grounds”, or in their plush cathedrals, or air-conditioned chapels, or beside radio and television sets, and teach them to ask God in prayer for the forgiveness of their sins to enable them become Born Again, and or gain entry into the Kingdom of God, they mislead or deceive them.

This is a shoddy way of offering God’s salvation to people who are in dire need of it. No one, who teaches the way into God’s salvation in this manner, has the wisdom of the apostles for soul-winning. None of the apostles, of Jesus Christ, would confuse and mislead salvation-seekers, by teaching them to do such a thing – which was neither instructed by the Master, nor in his mind or wisdom. They dared not. In fact, woes and condemnations awaited them, if they did.

So why do we do this today? Where are the genuine soul-winners of God today? Where are they? Why are genuine soul-winners so hard to come by today? Please wait a minute, and let me see how I may help you appreciate why genuine soul-winners are so hard to come-by today.

You see, many of the so-called Christian teachings, supposedly meant for the salvation of mankind, which evolved through the politico-Christian power-players of the erstwhile Roman Empire, in the immediate post-apostolic times, did not have the power associated with the faith. The glaring potency and unique character of the Christian faith, seen at the start of the church in Jerusalem, on the Day of Pentecost and in the days following it, got lost completely, by the time Rome took upper-hand, in the selection and coronation of bishops for the church.

Once Rome became a force to reckon with, in the selection of leader-teachers for the church, weird non-Jesus teachings, started to rear their ugly heads in the church’s character and administration. What-with, all that history, about the cash-sales of indulgencies by bishops, as the fulfillment of their roles in the Great Commission of the Master, to win souls into his Kingdom?

How about the influx of high-office politicians, idol-worshippers indeed by their religion, who were wrongly considered as followers of Christ, and were thus admitted into the church, without obeying the prescribed rites for membership? These, and many others, are the root causes for the high level of corrupt doctrines to the Christian faith, which we find today.

Also, the persecutions to death, of the followers of Jesus Christ, a horrible notoriety of the history of the Romano-Christian tradition under Rome, in the immediate post-apostolic days, were aimed not at their persons, per se, but at getting people to accept, believe and act on corrupted and distorted versions of the teachings of Christ. Satan knew from the very beginning of Christianity that, if he could bring into the teachings of Christ, the minutest pollutants, he would succeed in rendering these teachings impotent, in fact useless, for the salvation of mankind.

And so he calculated his plans very well – waiting till the passing away into glory, all the saints of God, who talked, walked, and ate with the Messiah, before orchestrating his intrigues of deception, lies, and introduction of contaminants into God’s Word, to achieve his aims.

How much of the teachings of the Messiah, and of the apostles, do we find among people who profess to be Christians today? Many are comfortable with a system of codes and practices which are in every way, the doctrines of men. They blindly believe them, whole-heartedly, to be the doctrines of Christ.

Even the most serious-minded people, who claim to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ today, have been misled to imbibe as the truth, many adulterated versions of the Word of God. In ignorance of this, they are so zealous in their beliefs in these impure versions, as to defend them with their lives, intolerant of, and hostile to the truth, whenever they are confronted with it.

If today we have so-called Men of God, presenting the salvation message of God in doctrines different from those of Jesus Christ and his apostles, then Rome, of the Second Century or thereabout, must take the blame. The entire leadership of present-day Christianity must also share in this, in being so gullible as to accept the falsehood and deception of that past, when the Bible is readily available for study and correction to these distortions to the teachings of Christ. I cannot help, but be very sad in all this.

The genuine stewards of God are those who know how to truly function as soul-winners. They are those who know how to rightly divide the Word of God, discerning forgiveness from remission.

They are those with a thorough knowledge of the New Testament doctrines of God for the salvation of sinners. They are those who win souls in the waters of baptism in the name of Jesus Christ – using the skills and talents of fishermen, who are transformed into fishers of men.

Such are those Men of God who are indeed called, taught, and imputed with the wisdom of God on how to win souls, and sent out under the anointing of the Holy Spirit of God. These are those sent to do a job that the Son of God himself should have been doing, and therefore cannot afford to do it in their way, but in the Master’s; displaying his wisdom in their service to God’s Kingdom.

It is only such workers who are sure to gain commendation by the Master, as his Wise and Faithful Stewards, at his Second Coming. It is only such workers who qualify to be ushered into the gold-plated royal residences in Heaven, to live in ease and comfort throughout Eternity.

My dear one, are you truly a soul-winner? You who call yourselves Men of God, or are happy with such appellations by men: look to your ways and works closely, and in humility, change them for God’s ways.

Do this, so you do not get disappointed at the Gates of Heaven, on the Day of Judgment, when you and your many ignorant followers, are gathered-up as tares of no use to the Kingdom of God, but for fuel in the fires of Hell.

I hope I have warned you enough.
Shalom.

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ and the author of the book: “BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation”. His email address is: [email protected]

It was John the Baptist, who came to announce the plan of God that, He was about to introduce remission of sin to deal with the sin problem of mankind once and for all. John taught Israel about the soon-coming and brand-new salvation of God, (only available in Christ Jesus), that could only be accessed through remission of sin. (Luke 1: 77, KJV).

John the Baptist revealed to Israel that, Jesus had come as the Lamb of God to take away their sin (and that of the world). Jesus had come to set those held captive by the devil, free; and to set at liberty, them that are bruised. It was the sacrifice of Jesus’ Life that brought the power which could save Israel (and in fact mankind) from a state they hitherto, were helpless and incapable of freeing themselves from.

John the Baptist went about in the wilderness of the river Jordan, crying out to Israel, about how the Lamb of God was soon to be slaughtered to make remission of sin available so that sin and its nature could be taken out of the spirit and body of every man, who desired deliverance from the power, and dominion of the devil, and from the consequences of sin.

To bring remission of sin to sinful-mankind is the reason for Jesus’ coming to earth. It is the very reason for the horrible manner in which he died on The Cross. He announced to his friends at the Last Supper that he was going to die for the remission of all the sins of mankind. (Matthew 26: 28, KJV).

After his resurrection from the dead, Jesus commissioned his disciples to be witnesses of the fact that, remission of sin was then forever available to sinful-mankind. (Luke 24: 46-47, KJV). The disciples lived all their lives after Jesus’ Ascension, toiling to bring the knowledge of remission of sin to everybody. They all died in this cause, while leading all men to genuinely receive remission of sin.

All the people in the Bible, who were directly involved in the work of God, to bring His salvation in Christ to sinful-mankind, died in the cause of remission of sin. John the Baptist was beheaded while he championed the cause of remission of sin. Jesus Christ was crucified in the cause of remission of sin. And so did all the apostles of Jesus Christ, die either the death of martyrdom, or of exhaustion from their toils, while propagating the blessings of remission of sin to mankind.

It is saddening that, close to two thousand years after remission of sin was made available to the world, most of us are still ignorant of how to obtain it for keeps – this great blessing of God. Why then did Jesus die, if the blessings of his sacrificial death cannot be accessed by sinful-mankind, because of ignorance of how to do so?

Oh Ignorance, you have killed many simple-minded folks of mankind from generation to generation. And yet you are so easily overcome by the Blood of the Lamb, and by the Word of the Saviour, and of the testimony of his redeemed.

Remission of sin comes to the salvation-seeker only once in one’s life-time. It brings about a single-transaction payment for all sins previously committed by the salvation-seeker. (Romans 3: 25, KJV). It wipes thoroughly snow-white clean, the crimson-coloured slate of sin: natural man’s heart, inherited from the first Adam.

Remission of sin breaks the yoke of bondage of Satan over sinful-mankind. Remission of sin establishes the repentant sinner as a branch in the True Vine; it infuses the divine nature of God with the spirit of man. (John 15: 5, Second Peter 1: 4, KJV). Remission of sin therefore, delivers natural man from the power and dominion of the kingdom of darkness, translating him into the Kingdom of Light of God’s dear Son. (Colossians 1: 13, KJV).

Remission of sin makes one the child of God – born of the holy incorruptible seed of God. In fact, the blessings of remission of sin are endless and are of such great value that, it is only God who can grant it to any seekers of it, who deserve to receive it because they do as He has instructed them to.

The simple-minded person, with a rather limited knowledge of the New Testament teachings on God’s salvation in Christ, who is reading this article, may be asking in his mind what we have done wrongly, incompatible with the New Testament revelation, and the apostolic teachings, which have denied us the salvation of God in Christ Jesus.

The answer is simple: all what we have done, not knowing or discerning remission of sin, what it entails and brings to the salvation-seeker, and how one can access it. This ignorance has taken us away from the salvation of God in Christ Jesus.

In particular, our error in equating remission (of sin) to forgiveness (of sin) has taken us far away from the salvation of God in Christ Jesus. This is the greatest error to the Christian faith – an error resulting from the wiles and machinations of the devil, all aimed at denying us the salvation of God in Christ Jesus.

Even though sinful-mankind can obtain forgiveness of sin from God in as many as “seventy times seven” times in even one given day, all that large number in forgiveness cannot equate to or bring about one single blessing of remission of sin. This is because, for the sinner to obtain forgiveness of sin, it does not (necessarily have to) involve the death of Jesus Christ.

No amount or number, of forgiveness of sins, can bring to the repentant salvation-seeker, the salvation of God in Christ Jesus. And to be told by a so-called Man of God to make one single request for forgiveness of sin from God, in one ‘Crusade’ event, to gain God’s salvation, is a ridiculous deception.

You can gain forgiveness of sin through repentance and confession of the sin to God, and or to the person you have wronged, without recourse to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That makes forgiveness to be obviously cheaper than remission, which (remission) must involve the precious blood and sinless life of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, to come about.

I do hope we remember that, Jesus Christ could grant forgiveness of sin to paralytics, impotent-halts, and even those who nailed him to The Cross, without them obtaining remission of sin. This was because, it was after they had been forgiven of their sins that Jesus then shed his blood on The Cross, for the remission of sin (for all mankind). This is the great contrast between forgiveness and remission (of sins) that is obviously revealed to us from the spirit (and maybe not the letter) of God’s infallible Word.

You can also gain forgiveness of sin from a fellow man, but you can never obtain remission of sin from your fellow man – not even from your closest kinsman, (except of course, from our one and only Kinsman-Redeemer, Jesus Christ). Again, as said earlier, remission of sin is obtainable from God only once in a life-time; forgiveness of sin however, can come to the sinner every day of the week, month, and or year.

Forgiveness of sin exonerates sinful-mankind from the consequences of sin: which are guilt-consciousness, sickness and disease, confusion, misery and poverty. (Deuteronomy 28: 15-68). The wrath of God, which must come upon all who sin, is stayed for those people, who are wise to seek forgiveness for their sins from Him, after repenting of them.

A man called Cornelius, of Acts chapter ten fame, enjoyed life in the blessed state of being in God’s forgiveness, and yet was neither in God’s salvation nor in His Kingdom. In that state of being in God’s forgiveness, enjoying in all, whatever the blessings of God are in that state, he did not have the remission of his sins.

It was much later on, when he was baptized in the ministry of Peter, an apostle, that he gained the remission of his sins, qualifying him to receive the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit of God in his heart and as a seal of ownership by God. That baptism also earned him the adoption and son-ship by God, for his addition into His family.

You see, forgiveness (of sin), deals with the issues of mankind’s sin, before and after Calvary. Remission (of sin) however, deals with issues of sin in man at Calvary. Both deals have their unique blessings and ways of being accessed. [—the concluding part of this article is in Part Four].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and the author of the book entitled: “BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation”. His email address is: [email protected].