Today, it is very important we observe closely, the way the disciples of Jesus executed their first assignment in soul-winning on the Day of Pentecost, and indeed, in all others, so we can imitate them for our own successes. All soul-winners, working in and for God’s Kingdom today, must do exactly as Peter an apostle, and his friends did for the salvation of men on the Day of Pentecost, and in the years after this great day.
Peter and his friends always preached a message whose substance was designed by the wisdom of God, and aimed at bringing repentance of sin to their listeners. Also, they always had the right directive, aimed at leading those who accepted their message to appropriately respond to it, for their genuine entry into the Kingdom of God.
Any time they went out to win souls, the theme of their message was the same. It was always about Jesus the Son of God: who lived a sinless life, was falsely accused and put to death by crucifixion on The Cross, was buried, resurrected on the third day after his burial, and who ascended into Heaven, to be seated on the right hand side of God forever.
For the apostles of Jesus Christ, this is the core-message of the gospel, which has the potency to prick the hearts of any hearers of it, so as to bring them to the point of repentance from their sins. Later on, when Saul of Tarsus joined the company of apostles of Jesus Christ as St. Paul, he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to say in the Book of Romans that, this message of the gospel is the only one with the cutting-edge power to bring about repentance unto salvation. (Romans 1: 16, KJV).
Again, Paul an apostle, in the Book of Galatians, chapter one, verse eight to nine, in writing to Galatians of his day, stressed to them the importance of accepting only the message of the apostles in their quest for God’s salvation. He stressed that, even if angels came to preach to them some other message beside the one preached to them by the apostles, they should not accept it. Any contrary message, Paul revealed, would bring to both the preachers of it and their hearers, curses from God. Simply put, any such message would deny them the salvation of God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore, if we are to make any genuine disciples for Jesus Christ today, who are worthy of being admitted into the Kingdom of God, this message of the apostles must be ours to all who would listen to us. We are not to preach to salvation-seekers any other message – not even one on healing from diseases or on deliverance from evil forces, or on prosperity, or on forgiveness of sin, or on any other.
Simply because a particular message can be found in the Bible does not mean it is relevant, or has the power of God, for the repentance of the sinner, toward his salvation. Sadly, many so-called Men of God do not know this! Many are yet to humble themselves to obey God’s Word for their own salvation. This they must do, so the Holy Spirit of God can get to dwell in their hearts, and then to constantly reveal to and teach them, for the benefit of their followers, the truths of God’s salvation in Christ Jesus.
Our message to the salvation-seeker must always be that of The Cross. This is the only one message, tailor-made by God Himself, which can bring a feeling of remorse to the heart of any sinner who hears it, and thereby lead him to repentance onto salvation.
Just as Peter did on the Day of Pentecost for the over three thousand returnee-Diaspora Jews, who accepted his cutting-edge message of The Cross, whenever we have any person today who comes to the realization that it is his (or her) sins that killed the Saviour, and repents of them, that person must be properly taught about how he or she must act, so as to come into the saving-power of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice.
The way to obtain reconciliation with God and how to gain entry into His Kingdom, must be for mankind today, the same as was taught by Peter to his hearers in his day. There is no other way taught by God in His Word to salvation-seekers to bring this about.
So what did Peter direct the salvation-seeker to do, to genuinely enter the salvation of God, one may ask? It is very important that we know this, and to also do as Peter did, if we are to achieve any success in our efforts to win souls for Christ.
Peter told his listeners to do two things: first, to repent from their sins, and then, to be baptized in (or into) the name of Jesus Christ. Peter taught them that if they did that out of genuine desire for reconciliation with God, and to enter His Kingdom, they would receive remission of sin, and go on further, to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Now, this is the only assurance from God’s Word, which we find in Acts 2: 38-39, KJV, on how any salvation-seeker can ever enter His salvation. We must always keep in our minds that, on the Day of Pentecost, when the first crop of salvation-seekers were led into the Kingdom of God, by His sure representatives, the genuine directive as to how to enter it, was for the salvation-seekers to repent of their sins, and to be baptized in (or into) the name of Jesus Christ.
As said earlier on, this baptism was to enable God grant them remission of sin, and also the gift of the Holy Spirit of God to firmly dwell in their hearts, (forever). It seems to me mankind’s difficulty in post-apostolic times, in understanding how to enter the salvation of God, has to do with the words remission of sin. But if God can and will grant His Holy Spirit to anybody who desires it in this Grace Dispensation, it must be through the person’s faith in remission of sin.
Sadly, remission of sin is hardly known or understood by even the learned theologians and self-styled Men of God, in our world today, who claim to be God’s soul-winners. The word remission is a very rare one. It is found only in the King James Version of the Bible, and in only ten verses. It is completely absent in all other popular Versions of the Bible, that I know of.
This fact of remission, as being a rare word, establishes it as a gold-miner’s word. For me, this word is found and understood by only gold-miners: miners who are engaged in the search of nuggets and pearls in the Bible. It is those who are seriously engaged in such a search, who are blessed with the knowledge and understanding of this rare Word of God – remission.
And yet, remission of sin is the best thing that ever came from God, with the intent to make all His blessings reach mankind. We can only fathom the depth of God’s love for mankind, in His gift of Jesus Christ, if we understand what remission of sin is all about.
This is because it is only those who have gained access to remission of sin, by applying the wisdom of God to their ways, who are the genuine disciples of Jesus Christ. They are those, who are in God’s salvation. Anybody else, no matter how good he looks, is in fact a tare, and not the wheat he may think of himself to be. Remember that, tares are wheat look-alike.
These truths the devil and his cohorts know. Sadly, not even the many so-called Men of God, of our generation, know these truths. They wrongly equate remission to forgiveness (of sin)! They are thus unable to properly teach salvation-seekers how to genuinely enter the Kingdom of God.
I have always wondered how the devil has been able to beguile as many as over 99% of so-called Men of God, (who I know), and as many salvation-seekers, not to know or think of remission (of sin) in their quest for the salvation of God in Christ. The devil has easily and cheaply succeeded in leading many so-called Men of God to teach salvation-seekers to ask God for forgiveness of their sins, instead of how they can secure remission of sin through repentance and baptism, in their quest to enter His Kingdom.
Until the advent of John the Baptist, even Israel, the elect of God, did not know anything about remission of sin. All they knew and enjoyed then, were atonement and forgiveness of sin. We can therefore say that, Jesus did not come to our world to die to bring into being, forgiveness of sin – forgiveness of sin being a blessing of God, which was already being enjoyed under the not-so-perfect Old Testament.
What all this means is that, sinful-mankind should not seek to obtain forgiveness of sin in his quest to enter God’s salvation. Rather, sinful-mankind must seek to understand and to secure remission of sin, to enable him enter the salvation of God. [—this article is continued in Part Three].
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]



