Most people who are at all religious believe that invariably they are or will be saved. Most are under a fairly strong conviction that they know God and are known by Him, that God understands them and how much they have suffered on this earth and how much they have tried to be a good person by doing their best to lead a decent life, obey Him and attend church etc. They draw a certain comfort and security from their good intentions. They believe that God knows their heart and because of this they feel confident that He will not cast them into Hell. Just as most people never think they will end up a murder victim or die by shark attack so, too, most are convinced that they could never actually be one of those people who end up in hell. But people do get murdered, they do get taken by sharks and real people do go to Hell.

Nobody really believes that they, let alone any member of their family, are on their way to Hell. Much less that they are worthy of Hell. Every eulogy of every funeral service conducted boasts of the ‘goodness’ and ‘kindnesses, the honesty’ etc., of the deceased. One would think that only good people die. ‘He was hard working and good to his family’ etc., is what is heard at almost every funeral. Most are under the impression that Hell is for the really bad people of this world who have no time for God, or worse still, go about doing much harm to others or leading immoral lives. Hell is for Mafia hit men and satanically inspired Rock stars, not for decent tax-paying folk who obey the laws of the land, are hard working and raise families. Most are convinced by the simple fact that because they are sincere in their particular religious beliefs and well meaning in the conduct of their lives, that surely as there is a God, He will see that they have done their best and that nothing more could be asked of them. All they ask is that He see their ‘goodness’ and forgive their sins. After all, God is Love and He is the God of Mercy. ‘God is a reasonable God and full of compassion’, they say, ‘so surely He will not cast me into Hell knowing that I have done my best to live a godly life and that I have abstained from the more serious sins that a man can commit.’ The reality of the situation is that sincerity in one’s religious beliefs is no sure sign that one is saved and secure for Heaven. The hard truth of the matter is that most people are not saved and on their way to heaven but are in fact in a lost state, careering towards an eternal fiery Hell!

The Word of God plainly teaches that there will be few who will go to Heaven and many who will end up in Hell, there to endure the very real torments of an eternal existence without God: "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matt.7:13,14). Immediately following this statement, the Lord Jesus warns of false prophets who would come in sheep’s clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves (Matt.7:15); men who would even come in Jesus’ name but with false teachings which do not profit a man (Matt. 24:5). Most believe that Hell is a place reserved for exceptionally bad sinners, those who are overtly sinful and immoral. A place for murderers, for those who molest children, for incorrigible career criminals who have no regard for others and their property, and for those who feel no remorse for their ugly deeds. The Holy Scriptures teach otherwise. God’s Word states that not only will such people suffer the torments of Hell but that many people who spend most of their lives in religion and trying to do good to others will also end up in Hell. Many who have followed lives of strict discipline in obedience to their particular religious beliefs, such as the Pharisees of Israel, are destined for Hell. In fact, the Lord Jesus states that even many who call Him ‘Lord’ will one day find themselves lost in the Lake of Fire. "Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? And in Thy name have cast out devils? And in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity" (Matt.7:22,23; see also Psa.5:5). Obviously these people were fully convinced they were true believers. They called Jesus ‘Lord’ and went about doing things in His name showing they were zealous and sincere, and one may assume that they also prayed to Him. Yet none were His children; none were known by Him and all that they did was evil in His sight. But how can this be? Surely a person who is sincere in their faith and doing their best to be obedient in their lives and who sincerely believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He is God, that He is the Second Person of the Trinity, that He was born of a Virgin in the town of Bethlehem, and that He died, was buried and Resurrected, is fitly qualified for an eternity of bliss in the Presence of the Holy and Righteous God. How many people are there in this world who go about doing good to others believing they are serving God? How many charities are there and how many organizations which help those in need, to tend to and cure the sick and do it in Jesus’ name? And what about those who give up materially fruitful and comfortable lives in Western society to go overseas and help the sick and starving in disease ridden Third World countries? It is argued, ‘Surely these will not be cast into hell, for look at the good they have done and continue to do day in day out. They wish no harm upon any but only to do good to others and help in any way they can. Look at how many ‘churches’ have been established in foreign lands and all sorts of programs put in place designed to ‘civilize’ natives and give them western culture and religion. Surely if such people are not worthy candidates for heaven, then who on earth can be saved?’ Christ states that with man salvation is impossible. But not with God. For with God all things are possible, yes, even the salvation of a man (Matt.19:25,26).

This article will show what God has said in His Holy Word concerning saved and lost. It will state what the biblical Standard of Judgement is concerning saved and lost. It will show that a man’s spiritual state before God is measured by the Standard which God has set and not by the many and varied standards which man has erected and of which he is sincerely convinced. It will show in detail who those people are who are currently in a lost state and what it is they believe. Moreover, it will teach what every saved person believes and what the Gospel of Jesus Christ, whom all have been commanded to believe, actually is. And it will show conclusively that all who do not believe in that Gospel of God, have not God, but a worthless counterfeit that cannot save. Contrary to popular belief the primary evidence of saved and lost is not measured according to moral living or immoral living, but by what a man believes. The word believe and others like it such as believed, believeth etc., appears only 45 times in the Old Testament but 273 times in the New Testament! This is quite a significant difference and shows how vital believing is in New Testament teaching. The principal evidence that a person is lost is that he does not believe the Truth of God: "...That they all might be damned who believed not the Truth... (2 Thess. 2:12). The principal evidence that a person is saved is that he does believe God’s Truth, i.e. His Gospel. Most religions teach morality as fundamental to a godly life but only one teaches God’s Gospel Truth. All whom God has chosen have/will believe His Truth: "...God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and BELIEF OF THE TRUTH" (2 Thess. 2:13). Those who are chosen by God are said to be called of God by His Gospel Message (see 2 Thess.2:14) "...separated unto the Gospel of God" (Rom.1:1). Jesus prayed that God would "Sanctify them them through Thy Truth: Thy Word is Truth" (Jn. 17:17).

We will begin with a description of the beliefs of those who fall into the category of the more obviously lost and work our way through to those people whom the world, even the so-called Reformed-Protestant world, would say are definitely saved and could not possibly be Hell bound. Before we begin our study, it is important for all to realise that man is born dead in sin. The race of man represented by its Federal Head, Adam, is a damned race and under God’s Curse because of Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden: "...as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned....for the judgement was by one to condemnation....by one man’s offence death reigned by one....by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation....by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners..." (Rom.5:12,16-19). God told Adam that in the day he ate of the fruit of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil that he would surely die (Gen. 2:16,17). This meant not only would the curse of physical death come upon man but that he would also die spiritually, meaning that he would be eternally separated from the Holy God because of his sin. Adam’s guilty sin nature was inherited by all his offspring. Scripture teaches that those in such a state cannot please God in any way, not even religiously or morally "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom.8:7,8; see also Heb.11:6). So we see from this that man is born in a lost Godless state. Sin is such an integral part of man that the Bible says that man is even conceived in sin (Psa.51:5). Man is rebellious against God by nature, and is born for trouble as the sparks fly upward (Job 5:7). Man’s rebellion against God is not always displayed by way of immorality, but IS consistently manifested in the many ways and means man has concocted in seeking after and coming to God. Everyone, including those who do end up receiving salvation, are all born into the Kingdom of darkness. None are born saved. All are born children of disobedience and children of wrath. The Word of God says that all have sinned (Rom.3:23) and that those who commit sin are of the Devil (1 Jn.3:8). Scripture says even the elect of God at one time lived their lives "...fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were BY NATURE the children of wrath even as others" (Eph.2:3). This was evidenced by the erroneous beliefs and concepts they had about God and salvation and in the many false religious refuges they had taken shelter, which they expected would shield them from the wrath of God which is to come. None by nature know God, nor do they understand the things of God for these things are discerned spiritually (1 Cor.2:14). Contrary to what man believes, God states: "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the Way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Rom.3:11,12; see also Psa.53:1-3).

It does not take a very wise mind to realise that those people who have no belief whatsoever in the existence of a Supreme Being—God—are clearly in a lost state, for they have no belief in God or in His Word. They simply believe that the whole concept of God is man’s invention, that the Bible is not the Word of God but the words of mere men and that there is no spiritual world or a Judgement to come. The only things that exist, according to these people, are matter and physical beings who, once they die, cease to exist. They believe, as the popular song states, that there is no Hell below us, and above us only sky. No angels, no demons and no Devil according to this group, and certainly no God to answer to. These people call themselves Atheists and are proud of it. They actually consider themselves to be among the more ‘highly evolved’ of the species of man, the more intellectually advanced who believe not in the existence of God. The Bible, however, brings reality crashing down upon these deluded ones by the following declaration: "The FOOL hath said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity..." (Psa.53:1). A man in such a state demonstrates clearly that he is Hell bound. Now, this is not to say that all of these people are necessarily outwardly bad people who constantly perform lawless deeds. Their character and conduct appears to suggest a high level of morality. It is a trait of fallen human nature to immediately assume that one is attacking the character and conduct of a man if one states that that person is in a lost and damned state before God. Nothing could be further from the truth. Many of these people who call themselves atheists are quite solid citizens who greatly benefit society in general and their local communities in particular. Many of them are members of charity groups etc. They wish no harm upon anyone, they love their spouses and children. They do good to others and often help in any way they can. They are, for the most part, honest hard-working people and, like most, simply get on with their lives and trying to help their fellow man along the way. Many have strong moral values and feel quite good about themselves, satisfied that they are fine upstanding citizens and respectable members of society. In many cases they have a very high self-esteem which comes from their positive judgment of themselves based on their good deeds and worthy contributions to society, and comparing themselves with others. It might be added, however, that some of them may think secretly to themselves that, if perhaps they are wrong and there really is a God, they surely have nothing to fear because they have led very moral lives, done the best they could and have always done good to others and made it a point to right any wrong they may have done to another. They have done their best in life and surely if there is a God, whoever He might be and whatever He might be like, He would not frown upon their best efforts at being model citizens. This is man projecting his false impression of God onto God—what He would/should be like—and is based on nothing but man’s natural and corrupt understanding of God and is a denial of God’s Word.

This attitude in life, one of doing good to others yet rejecting any notion of the existence of God, even when held to by those who do believe in the existence of God, is in actuality the most evil of attitudes. The Bible calls it going about trying to establish a righteousness of one’s own. That is, trying to store up a multitude of good deeds and living a moral life in order to please God and be found acceptable in His sight on Judgment Day. The person living this life denies the need of a Savior and proudly goes about with a self-righteous attitude. God says: "...there is none righteous, no, not one!" God has also stated: "Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Psa.53:3; see also Rom.3:11,12). The Bible says that not one does good in the eyes of God, that is, according to His Standard of what good is. God has not said that there are none who are moral in the eyes of man. God does not even deny that there are many who are very religious and who show a great zeal in their religious beliefs and who would not dream of acting contrary to those beliefs. But God does say that there are none righteous (Rom.3:10), meaning that there are none who are in right standing with God, none who are innocent or holy in the sight of God based on their efforts at morality and obedience. The reason for this is simple: "...by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom.3:20). "Every act of obedience that we might think would recommend us to God is rejected by God’s law because it comes short of the perfection that God’s law demands as to the ground of salvation" (W.P.). God tells us that "...all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom.3:23). Every one of us in our natural state has come short of the mark, or the Standard, which God has set. No matter how far or how close the archer’s arrow comes to the bull’s eye, he has missed the mark if he does not hit it dead centre. None have ever or, could ever, reach the Standard which God has set. God’s law demands perfect obedience or it will curse eternally. God does not tell us this to discourage us and leave us in our hopeless, sinful state but He uses these truths of man’s state before Him to point us towards the Savior Whom God has provided, Who can and has established a Perfect Righteousness by which a man can appear in right standing before the Holy God. The Standard of Holiness by which God judges is manifested in and through the Life and Death of His Son Jesus Christ. If one thinks he can approach God with his own ‘goodness,’ he and all that he has done must be as perfect as Christ Jesus was in His life on earth, both in thought and in deed, otherwise he has missed the mark and his righteousness is nothing but wickedness in God’s sight. Christ is the Standard of Holiness which God has commanded every man to live according to and if man even breaks one law he is guilty of all and unacceptable before a Holy God. God is a Holy God Who demands perfection (Matt.5:48). To be perfect before the Holy God is not merely to cease sinning but to present oneself to God entirely without sin. Even if a man could stop all his sinning he could never do anything to undo the sins which he had committed prior to this and therefore can never change his state of imperfection. Every sinner is commanded, not only to obey the Law perfectly, but is a debtor to pay the penalty his sin has incurred. God cannot and does not accept any who are not perfect in their character and conduct. Some would argue, ‘Surely this is not fair. It is unfair to expect any man to be perfect in obedience. It is unfair of God to demand of man something which He knows he can never do.’ God has not only given the command to be perfect but He has also provided the Way a man can be perfect in His sight, and His name is Jesus. It was not God’s fault that man sinned: "Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions" (Eccl.7:29). It is not God’s fault that man, by nature, is without God and therefore without hope in this world (Eph.2:12). It is not God’s fault that "...every man at his best state is altogether vanity" (Psa.39:5). But it was man himself who rebelled against God and plunged head first into sin and now finds himself, in his natural state, without God and without hope in this world. Man disregarded God’s Word in the Garden and he continues to disregard and disobey what God has said in the Gospel by seeking salvation in every way other than God’s Way: Jesus Christ (see Jn.14:6). The lost religious multitude in the world, in all their attempts at obedience to God, fail in that primary act of obedience that God has commanded, which is to believe His Gospel. The fact that no man can obey God perfectly does not in any way deny the fact that God is Holy and that He demands Holiness from all those who seek to enter Heaven. There are no degrees of holiness, as there are no levels of perfection, so we see that unless God’s demands are met absolutely no man can be saved. God has laid down His Law. Any who break even one of God’s Laws have broken the whole Law and are deservedly damned: "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, cursed is every one that continueth not in ALL THINGS which are written in the book of the law to do them" (Gal.3:10; see also Jer.11:3). Again, this is not said to discourage any man from a hope of Heaven, but to show him that he can never come to God by his own efforts and that he is to look to Another: Christ Himself for all of salvation. God does not change, but man has changed from a state of perfect fellowship and acceptance with God to one of abandoning God and choosing another ‘god’, Satan. All are condemned because of Adam’s sin and all, quite freely and happily, have sinned as individuals against the Holy God: "...as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Rom.5:12).

LOST are they who are nominally religious. Those who have some basic religious beliefs merely out of tradition, be it cultural or due to loyal dedication to family beliefs. These people nullify the Word of God by their traditions (Mk.7:13). They are guilty of "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away" (2 Tim.3:5). Sincerity in, and loyalty towards, erroneous family or national religious beliefs does not impress God. One can never please the True God by sincerely believing in false teachings. God told Israel in the Old Testament NOT to adopt any of the religious ways of the pagan nations: "Thus saith the Lord, ‘Learn not the way of the heathen...for the customs of the people are vain...’" (Jer.10:2,3; see also Deut.12:30-32; 2 Kings 17:15); "...they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save" (Isa.45:20). Religious zeal which is not according to knowledge, the knowledge of God’s Gospel, does not in any way qualify or entitle a man to heaven. This is evidenced by the apostle Paul’s prayer for the salvation of those Israelites who "...have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s Righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, (show that they) have not submitted themselves unto the Righteousness of God" (Rom.10:2,3). The more loyal to religious tradition a man is the more confirmed he is on the broad way that leads to destruction (Matt.7:13). They attempt to understand the things of God with their natural minds, and because of certain feelings which often accompany these thoughts, and that there are so many who share the same thoughts and feelings, interpret them to be right, spiritual and of God. They see apparent answers to their prayers as further confirmation that they are worshipping the True God. They have an image of God in their minds which is just as real and idolatrous as any graven image of a god, which cannot save, made of wood or stone formed, not by the sculptor’s chisel, but by years, even centuries, of false teachings and superstitious beliefs about the Character and Attributes of the True God. None can understand God and the Ways of God unless they have been Regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God and given the Mind of Christ: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor.2:14). Unless Regeneration occurs by the grace of God, man will remain in his lost state with a mind that has been blinded by the god of this world, Satan (2 Cor.4:3,4) and easily impressed by false teachings that promote false gods which cannot save.

Ironically, many religious people make no great effort to live upright, moral and productive lives. They are quite content with their life and the small part of it which they ‘give’ to God. No disciplined religious life for them but a general adherence to an outwardly respectful life is, to their way of thinking, all that is required. They are good providers for their families. They work hard and are generally honest people. They will admit to little ‘white lies’ on occasion and perhaps other ‘small’ indiscretions etc., but generally the way they conduct their lives is ok according to their standard. They do no real harm to others or at least very little. They all admit to some sin but none consider their sins worthy of eternal punishment in the everlasting fire of Hell. Besides this they are, for the most part, sorry for their sins. One of their strongest ‘defences’ is: ‘I have certainly never murdered anyone’. Many make it a point to go to their ‘church’ every Sunday or at least on special days. They have their babies ‘christened’, send their children to religious education classes and teach them the basic beliefs which the family holds to, encouraging them to be good and to lead good lives etc. What these people do and what in fact all of the lost do, according to their natural state, is they judge themselves to be right with God by their own standards, or the standards taught by false ministers of false gospels, especially those of great reputation, and take them on face value rather than correctly testing the things they are taught by God’s Standard which is laid out in His Holy Word. This is among the deadliest of errors, for billions have lived their lives secure in their delusion that God was on their side and that He Would ultimately save them. Their fatal error was that their beliefs were not based on God’s Promise revealed in His Word but on their particular viewpoint of what God is like and how God saves. Their views of God vary greatly but they all conclude that it is the same God they follow, regardless of the severe and contradictory differences in their beliefs—who they say God is and what they say He has done—and that all, or most, will be with Him in Heaven one day. The Ecumenical movement has brought together millions of people from different religious backgrounds and belief systems who all concede that they follow different teachings but believe sincerely that they are all following the same Supreme Entity. They claim that ‘It doesn’t really matter what one believes about God so long as one believes in His existence and does one’s best in life.’ The whole idea of safety in numbers is a fallacy when it comes to religious beliefs. No matter how many believe in a particular way to salvation, IF IT IS NOT GOD’S WAY IT IS A FALSE WAY, a refuge which will not protect any from the Wrath of God which is to come. The whole safety in numbers concept is of no comfort now to those who perished in the Great Flood. None of them worshipped the True God and therefore they were consumed by the Waters of God’s Judgement. None heeded the teachings of Noah, who was a preacher of Righteousness, for over 100 years. Every worshipper of false gods and false religions DO follow the same god and his name is Satan, for none of them teach or believe in God’s Gospel wherein the True God is revealed.

Many who claim adherence to some form of religion believe that if a person has suffered much here on earth it is an evidence that God will accept them into His Presence and would surely not cast them into the eternal fire to suffer further agonies. They also say, ‘Surely those who are in agony on hospital beds will not also have to suffer the pains of Hell. Surely a murder victim would never find himself or herself in Hell, or those who are handicapped in some way could never be the recipients of God’s everlasting wrath. Those who die innocent victims of tragic road accidents, or on their sick-beds clinging to their god by way of their ornamental crucifix or other religious icon could not possibly now be in Hell, nor could any who have sacrificed their own lives while protecting the lives of others’. As sad as all these situations are this line of reasoning is as absurd as that which concludes that a person confined to a wheelchair could never commit a criminal act, or that an elderly person could never commit murder or harm anyone in the least way. This line of thinking is simply ludicrous and cannot find any backing in the Word of God. It is based on feelings and steeped in sentiment which have no affinity with reality. Such thoughts are not founded in reality but on superstitious, sentimental nonsense. This may sound harsh but it is fact, biblical fact, and the sooner people who think in this manner stop listening to themselves and what others say who are just as ignorant of the True God and HIS Way to salvation as they are and start listening to what GOD has said, the better. The religious world can only find support for its religiosity and superstitions in its own feeble understanding of God, which is founded in ignorance. They do not judge themselves according to God’s Word, according to His Gospel, and are ignorant of God’s Standard of Righteousness revealed in that Gospel. This is like judging the measurements for the foundations of a house by one’s idea of how long a metre is, rather than judging by the correct standard which in this case would be a proper and accurate measuring tape. Most are familiar with those scenes on the television news which show a truck which has jammed itself under a low bridge, much to the embarrassment of its driver. The driver has foolishly judged the height of the bridge purely by his own estimate. He was confident in his own judgement, which was supported only by his prediction, which was in turn based on his opinion that his truck would make it safely under the bridge with room to spare, and has not correctly noted its height in comparison with that of his truck. That’s why low bridges have their measurements posted clearly on them: so that people can make an INFORMED decision and not one based on their own judgement. Had the truck driver paid heed to the measurements, he would have realised beforehand that his truck was not going to pass safely under the low bridge no matter how sincerely convinced he was, that according to his judgement, the truck would make it. Sadly, and of most concern, is the fact that this is precisely how most handle their judgement of saved and lost. They simply judge according to what seems reasonable and acceptable to them of what God is like and how He judges and how a man can be right with Him, and will be shocked on Judgment Day when they realise that though they were sincere in their beliefs and lived moral lives, they had been sincerely wrong, sincerely deceived. They did their best to reach the standard they had set, whilst being ignorant of THE STANDARD which God has set, which is the only one which matters. One MUST judge according to God’s Standard, that is His Holy Gospel, wherein the Righteousness of God is revealed (Rom.1:16,17). IF THERE IS NO BELIEF IN THE GOSPEL THERE IS NO SALVATION. Christ said that he who believes His Gospel, which is to abide in the doctrine (teachings) of Christ, would be saved and that those who believed not the Gospel would be damned: "...Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; BUT HE THAT BELIEVETH NOT SHALL BE DAMNED" (Mk.16:15,16; see also Mk.1:15). In fact, Christ stated that those who believe not are condemned already: "He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already..." (Jn.3:18). Those who believe not Christ’s Gospel stand condemned whether they are moral or immoral in their conduct, and the Bible states that God will take vengeance on all those who disobeyed and believed not His Gospel Message: "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that KNOW NOT GOD, and THAT OBEY NOT THE GOSPEL of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the Presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power" (2 Thess.1:8,9). Salvation is about believing God’s Judgement concerning saved and lost, believing His Testimony on the matter and not following our ideas, beliefs or traditions no matter how sincerely and loyally, or those of false teachers which the Bible calls "...cunningly devised fables..." (2 Pet.1:16; see also 1 Tim.1:4; 2 Tim.4:4). False teachings are not of God. They were all originally and cleverly devised by the enemies of God in order to deceive and are now often preached and promoted by those who are as sincerely deceived by them as their followers are. It is important to note at this point that those who lead the spiritually blind are blind themselves! (Matt.15:14; see also Lk.6:39).

LOST are they who are involved in religions which do not teach the Eternal Truth that Jesus Christ is God. Religions such as the so-called ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses’ are false religions for they do not promote the Truth that Jesus is the Eternal God and therefore could not possibly be promoting God’s only Gospel. This category includes the billions of people who make up the religions of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam (Muslims), Judaism and many others. Literally billions upon billions of people who are now in hell or who are headed towards it, followed or do follow these fable-promoting religious deceivers. Many, even some professing christians, find this hard to accept. Some refuse to believe it because so many of these people, though involved in false religions, are so kind and loving. Natural man just cannot help but judge according to the appearance. God does not judge in this manner "...for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart" (1 Sam.16:7), and God, sees the heart of every man as "...deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked..." (Jer.17:9). Many of those who live in multi-cultural societies have neighbors who follow these religions and get on well with them. They are so kind, courteous and very friendly. There is nothing wrong in being kind and courteous but there is something very wrong, perilous and sinful in being involved in false religion and thinking that a man will find favor with God by his own ‘good deeds’. The serious nature of man’s sin is something few have fathomed. To sin against the Holy God of the Universe is the most abominable act that a man can do. God is Personally offended at each and every sin, particularly the sin of trying to establish a righteousness before God according to one’s own efforts, for He has outlawed sin and yet man continues to break His Law without fear of retribution, because "There is no fear of God before their eyes" (Rom.3:18). Most of the people involved in false religious organizations are very sincere but it must be noted that sincerity of belief is not the evidence, proof or qualifier for salvation. Everyone believes something and most are very sincere about what they believe, but it is WHAT a man believes that is the central issue and not how sincerely he believes it. Many agree that the Bible is the Word of God but remain ignorant of what God’s Word actually says. This is evidenced by their trying to establish a righteousness by their personal obedience. Sincerity is not the key to freedom, it is the TRUTH of God which makes a man free: "And ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free" (Jn.8:32). Many are moved to silence by the perceived sincerity and honesty exhibited in a person’s religious life and conclude from this flimsy ‘evidence’ that they must be saved. Most Buddhists and Hindus lead extremely moral lives, particularly the followers of the false god Krishna. Some monks and nuns of the more extreme Roman Catholic sects actually beat themselves bloody to show how sincere they are in their remorse for their sins. These people are devoutly religious and deeply sincere. They are gentle and very loving to others, more so than even some true believers and this coupled with their religious beliefs, feelings and experiences is conclusive proof in their minds that they are in right standing with God and that He will never reject them. Many receive great comfort in believing their particular religious beliefs are correct, and that they have the true God simply because their religion has existed for thousands of years, or because it was around before Christianity. Antiquity is no evidence of superiority. Others are convinced because there are so many who follow Buddha or the millions of Hindu gods. ‘Look at how much ‘good’ they do for ‘god’ and how disciplined their lives are’ is the argument. ‘How strictly they obey their religion’s teachings and moral code. Many even give their lives for their ‘god’.’ What makes you think you are any better than them?’, they ask. No true believer has ever said that they are better than these people. It must be added that some involved in false religion actually kill others thinking they serve God with such ‘honorable’ deeds in and for the cause of their ‘truth’. Again, these types of arguments show a standard of judgement based not on that which God has set but on that which has been set by man in his lost state.

Man in his natural state is so consumed with self that he oftentimes judges whether or not he is saved by looking at the lives of others. He judges himself saved by comparing himself with others. In other words he judges himself saved not according to God’s Standard of Holiness as revealed in the Gospel but according to his appearance and works and that of others: "...but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise" (2 Cor.10:12). They evidence their lost state by judging saved and lost by the amount or quality, or a mixture of both, of their religious deeds and moral lives, sincerity and zeal. As was mentioned earlier, natural man judges his salvation and that of others by works, deeds performed for the good of others and aimed at pleasing and gaining favor with God. This is the sin that deludes us all by nature and by what our wicked hearts deceive us: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jer.17:9); "...yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead" (Eccl.9:3). God has said that, despite appearances, no one would be righteous in His sight or saved according to their works: "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the Faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ, and NOT by the works of the law: FOR BY THE WORKS OF THE LAW SHALL NO FLESH BE JUSTIFIED" (Gal.2:16). Again, this is said not to discourage anyone from seeking salvation but to show man that he cannot be saved based on his efforts at obedience, and to point him to the Savior. Scripture states clearly: "...by Him (Jesus) all that believe are justified from ALL things, from which ye could NOT be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:39).

Man has done away with God’s Testimony and replaced it with his traditions and what other men have set up as the standard whereby he judges saved and lost. Christ has said: "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgement" (Jn.7:24). Whether it be in a negative sense or in a positive light, judging according to the appearance is strictly forbidden by Christ, one of the reasons being that any man can appear righteous unto another according to appearance and a man’s opinion of what righteousness is. Some serial killers have, on the surface, been respectable members of society during the time of their killing spree and the last person one would think was the murderous fiend. NO ONE appears righteous unto God in their natural sinful state for all are corrupted and fall short of His glory (see Heb.4:13). Many may appear righteous according to man’s standard but none are righteous according to God’s Standard, and, it is God’s Standard ALONE that matters: "God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ ACCORDING TO MY GOSPEL" (Rom.2:16). Many have an outward appearance of holiness but all are inwardly corrupt and fall far short of the glorious Standard of Righteousness which God has set. Listen to what Christ said of the Pharisees who were the most religious, dedicated and (outwardly) holiest of men in the nation of Israel: "Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity" (Matt.23:28; see also v. 27 & Lk.16:15). Christ also referred to these ‘most righteous of men’ as being of their father the Devil, for these religious leaders did not abide in the Truth (see Jn.8:44). In light of this Christ also said of them: "But ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep..." (Jn.10:26). All their good works amounted to absolutely nothing and all of their religious dedication and ancestry was in vain for they believed not Christ and His Gospel. Notice that Christ said that the Pharisees appeared righteous unto men, but not to God. Appearances, to say the least, can be extremely deceptive. All that glitters is NOT gold. Just because a man appears to be religious and has great zeal and sincerity in his religion, is no evidence that this is a saved man who knows the True God. For instance, how many people have been led astray by a person who outwardly appeared sincere and honest, so sweet and gentle and kind and yet ended up relieving them of their life savings? Jesus said that deception in religious circles would be no different. He stated that false ministers who promoted false gospels which told of a false christ who cannot save, would appear outwardly as sheep but inwardly they were wolves: "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves" (Matt.7:15). Paul the apostle referred to them as grievous wolves in Acts 20:29 and warned that these ministers of Satan would appear as the very ministers of righteousness, yet they had no true Gospel to tell, only a counterfeit (2 Cor.11:4,13-15). Christ teaches that judging by appearance was not the way God has commanded (Jn.7:24), but rather judging according to righteous judgment is the way which God has commanded. The spiritual man judges all things in this manner (1 Cor.2:15). This judgment is according to God’s Word which never changes and can never lead a man astray. It is judging according to the Gospel of God which is made up of various doctrines, which are the terms of what is called the New Testament or New Covenant. The way of judging a person according to what they teach or believe is evidenced many times in Scripture and is summed up in the following statement: If a man has not the Gospel he has not God (2 Jn.9). There is no talk here of conduct, whether good or bad, for any man can appear righteous but not all believe in the Gospel of God. There is no hope to be found outside the Gospel. No hope for any man even at his best (see Psa.39:5). Only by the True Christ may His Holy Message be heard for He alone is the Truth and only in that Message is His Righteousness revealed (Rom.1:16,17), and that Righteousness of Christ is the only Righteousness by which a man may enter heaven: Jesus saith unto him, ‘I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (Jn.14:6). Jesus Christ proclaims: "I am the Door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved..." (Jn.10:9). Any other way is a false way and any doctrine other than Christ’s doctrine is false doctrine which will not lead a man to the Father.

LOST are they who claim to believe in Jesus Christ and yet abide not in His doctrine and whom He does not know. The billions of people who have followed and do follow the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, all of the so-called Orthodox churches found mostly in Eastern Europe, the Balkan States and Russia, the Charismatic and Pentecostal movements and all of the smaller groups which these two giants have spawned, are all at this moment in time lost for they do not follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ as taught in Holy Scripture. The leaders they follow have never taught them what the true Gospel is. These people sincerely believe with heartfelt conviction that they have heard and do believe God’s Gospel. Again, their sincerity is no guarantee that they are right. SINCERITY DOES NOT MEAN SECURITY. One can sincerely believe that 2+2 = 5 but one would be sincerely wrong. NO AMOUNT OF SINCERITY CAN MAKE THAT ANSWER RIGHT! How ridiculous would a person be to say that one has the correct answer by judging how nice or loving that person is? It is no less ridiculous to judge a man saved simply because he lives right, names the name of Christ and is not immoral. Nor is it any proof that any of these giant organizations are of God because they have so many great buildings, are materially wealthy and have billions of followers. The Roman Catholic Church alone is said to have over 1 billion followers. All are lost for all believe in a false gospel wherein is no salvation. All are blind followers of blind guides and all will fall into the same ditch if they do not repent and believe the Gospel (Matt.15:13,14). How can sincere but spiritually blind teachers, who do not know the Truth of God, lead their sincere yet spiritually blind followers to Heaven? Christ says: "...shall they not both fall into the ditch?" (Lk.6:39). These kinds of standards, that of sincerity and moral uprightness, a church’s material wealth and prosperity and charitable deeds, from which many get such a feeling of security, does not come from God, for He has only ONE Standard, the Gospel of His Dear Son Jesus Christ. ALL WHO DO NOT KNOW GOD OBEY NOT HIS GOSPEL. AND ALL WHO DO NOT OBEY HIS GOSPEL CANNOT KNOW GOD! (See 2 Thess.1:8). It is vital for all to realise that GODLY SINCERITY IS ALWAYS ACCOMPANIED BY GOD’S TRUTH. Joshua 24:14 says: "Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve Him in SINCERITY and in TRUTH: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord" (see also 1Cor. 5:8; 2 Cor.1:12; 2;17). Sincerity without Truth always leads to false gods and false religions. False gods and false gospels, and those who promote them, are to be shunned and avoided and the True God and HIS Gospel believed, in sincerity and in Truth if one is to truly serve the Lord. Those who teach contrary to the doctrine of Christ are to be avoided: "For they that are such SERVE NOT OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple" (Rom.16:18). Such men are described as "...the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things" (Phil. 3:18,19). It does a man no good at all if he sincerely believes that 2+2= 5. It doesn’t help him in any way if he is the most upright and model citizen around. If what the man believes is wrong then no amount of accompanying sincerity is going to make him right. If he believes a false gospel he is lost and doubly so if he believes it with sincerity. Sincerity and TRUTH is what comes from God. God must be worshipped in spirit AND in TRUTH. Christ said: "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the TRUE worshippers shall worship the Father in SPIRIT and in TRUTH; for the Father SEEKETH SUCH to worship Him" (Jn.4:23). The only ones whom God seeks are they who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, and according to Ezekiel 34:11,12 those true worshippers are referred to as His sheep, His people. The only ones who will hear His voice and who will be given eternal life are His sheep (see Jn.10:27,28). The Holy Spirit Who guides all of God’s chosen into TRUTH is called the Spirit of TRUTH. "Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth..." (Jn.16:13). The Holy Spirit is referred to three times in the Gospel of John as the Spirit of Truth (Jn.14:17; 15:26; 16:13). The Holy Spirit does not guide people into error, He guides them into Truth. He guides them to the True Christ and not a false christ. He guides God’s chosen to the True Gospel and not a false gospel for God calls His people by HIS Gospel and never through a false gospel. Heaven is for those who have had the TRUTH revealed to them and who have been given a love for it and the Faith to believe it. God calls His people by His Gospel, His Truth, and not a lie. The Work of the Holy Spirit of God is inseparably connected with belief of God’s Truth: "...God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through SANCTIFICATION OF THE SPIRIT AND BELIEF OF THE TRUTH: Whereunto HE CALLED YOU BY OUR GOSPEL, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thess.2:13,14).

No doubt all this comes as a great shock to many who have never grasped the enormity of sin and just how many people, including those who are sincerely religious, are actually lost, and that no man by his own efforts at obedience to God’s Law can ever attain salvation. Yes, the little old lady who lives next door to you and whom you see go off to church every Sunday and to the prayer meetings every Wednesday is lost if she does not believe in God’s Gospel and counts all of her religious efforts at finding favor with God as dung. This goes against the grain of natural man’s way of thinking. God has stated that man’s ways are not God’s Ways and God’s thoughts are not our thoughts: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts...For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord" (Isa.55:7,8; see also 1 Sam.16:7). Man does not see and therefore does not judge as God sees and as God judges. Man is to repent of ever thinking that he could, by his works and efforts at religion and morality, ever recommend himself to the Holy God. Christ did not come to call those who are righteous in their own eyes, but to call sinners to repentance (see Matt.9:13). God commands man to forsake his ways and his thoughts and to believe God when He says that "...no man is justified by the law in the sight of God...for, the just shall live by Faith" (Gal.3:11). The Bible states that the heart of man is desperately wicked (Jer.17:9) and that any man who trusts in his own heart (which is talking about every man who does not trust in the True Christ alone for all of salvation) is a fool and heaven is not a place which accommodates fools: "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool..." (Prov.28:26). We must hear and believe what God has to say about saved and lost, about heaven and hell, if we are to be sure of our eternal well-being. Graciously, God has revealed His Testimony concerning saved and lost in His Gospel Message. However, most people today conduct their lives like those in the Old Testament, who went about doing that which was right in THEIR own eyes (Judg.17:6). This is the central ingredient in judging according to the appearance. These are the self-righteous ones who judge themselves and others worthy of heaven based on nothing else but their ‘walk with God’. Oftentimes they make excuses for themselves by judging themselves according to their good intentions and others by what they do. Notice that they do not go about doing that which is wrong or evil in their eyes but they do what they think is good. The right way to live and to seek God is according to their opinion and they judge themselves right with God according to their view of what good is. They are a law unto themselves and can never please God (see Rom.8:6-8). Outside of Noah and his family, the whole world walked according to this manner. They had their false gods and their own views of right and wrong and all received the just punishment for their rejection of Noah’s God, the True God. Yes, ALL THE WORLD WAS WRONG and only Noah and seven others were right! (See 2 Pet.2:5). The apostle John writing to Christians said: "And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness" (1Jn.5:19). The issue is not whether you judge yourself right before God but does God judge you Righteous?

Ever since the Fall in the Garden of Eden man has become a law unto himself and is under the delusion that God thinks the way man thinks and that He sees the way man sees. Man in his natural fallen condition judges good and bad according to his own standard. This is one of the reasons why man is so convinced that the god he follows is the true God. Man is by nature ignorant of the fact he is spiritually insane. Everyone, including those who name the name of Christ yet do not know His Gospel, are guilty of the sin of replacing the True God with an idol derived from his own perverted image of the True God. The world does not hold to very many absolutes in life, for one man’s opinion is as good as another’s; one man’s god is as good as another’s. If there is one thing the world is absolute about, it is that there are no absolutes! They judge not according to God’s thoughts, but by their own thoughts which the Bible calls thoughts of iniquity (Isa.59:7), and are often outraged at anyone or anything that challenges their ways and their thoughts and that calls their religion a false one and their god a counterfeit. They hate anyone and anything that poses a threat to their religious comfort zone, to which their ignorance has led them. Man, whether he knows it or not, has a God-complex. The Fall is what did it. Satan told Eve that if she and Adam ate that fruit which they had been forbidden to eat they would become as gods who could set their own standards of right and wrong (Gen.3:5). Satan believes he is God and thinks that he can do what he likes when he likes. Man, whose mind has been blinded to the truth of the Gospel, is the same as his god, Satan. Man has replaced the True God, with himself. Just look at how many religions there are which teach that man is a god, or at the very least can, and will, eventually become a god if he follows their teachings. From Hinduism to Mormonism to the Faith movement, these teachings abound. They appeal to natural man because he is bent towards that way of thinking, because the one whom man follows by nature is Satan, the one who originally sold man the line that he would become as a god. Man substituting himself in the place of God often manifests itself in the guise of a god of man’s own imagination, which is nothing but man projecting his own perverted views of what God is like, to an image of his own making. A lost man whose mind is blinded to the things of God and by which he cannot understand God, saying he understands and knows God or even seeks after God, is like a physically blind man saying he can see perfectly. It is utter foolishness. Man has bowed his knee to his own sinful perverted nature and has invented for himself countless illusionary, perverted and deceptive images of God, when all the while he is simply worshipping and believing in himself. He looks inwardly, not outwardly, and is consumed by his own thoughts.

LOST are all those who believe that they have chosen God according to their free-will. This includes ‘protestants’ as much as it does the Roman Catholic who believes that God has given him the grace, or ability, to believe but that man still has to do the choosing. No matter how much a man attributes his salvation to God, he is yet a lost man if he maintains that man has a free-will choice in whether he comes to God or not. In claiming that salvation is conditioned on man, on his choosing God, they do away with the biblical teaching that God has, according to His purpose and grace (2 Tim. 1:9), chosen us and that Christ has obtained redemption for all whom God chose. More will be said on this issue later. Scripture says that Christians are a chosen generation and not a generation of choosers: "But ye are a chosen generation...that ye should shew forth the praises of Him Who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous Light" (1 Pet.2:9).

LOST also are those who give a mere intellectual acknowledgement to God’s True and only Gospel. Their knowledge is only head-knowledge and not saving knowledge. It is purely a mental agreement with the Gospel and not a heart agreement. They care not for holy living, believing it is not necessary to pay heed to one’s conduct and manner of life but only to believe the Truth. The apostle James, in speaking of such people, stated: "...faith without works is dead" (Jas.2:20; see also v. 19). These works which accompany saving faith do not in any way, or to any degree, contribute to or maintain a man’s salvation but are simply the fruit which is evidenced by true saving Faith. The Faith which believes that all of salvation is conditioned on Christ ALONE will never look to it’s fruit as the means to, or the ground of, salvation. Those who give a mere intellectual agreement with the true Gospel, still actually judge according to the appearance, by a man’s declaration that he is a true believer in Christ, or according to a man’s reputation, the degree of respect he and his writings or sermons command etc., in spite of the anti-Christ doctrines they believe. These people consider many saved, particularly family members or close friends who do not abide in the doctrine of Christ. The Holy Spirit of God calls such a man ACCURSED, so how could anyone who considered such a man saved whom they were well aware did not hold to the doctrine of Christ, but to teachings which actually opposed Christ’s Gospel, possibly be saved themselves? Such lost ones believe that they themselves were saved before they even heard of the True Gospel. But how, it may be asked, can a man be saved before hearing the True Gospel if the only way God calls a man is by His Gospel? (2 Thess.2:14). And how can one truly be saved if they judge a man saved who does not believe the Gospel of Christ, without which there is no salvation, as there is no justifying Righteousness revealed outside of its doctrines? Such people claim that they were saved, actually received justifying faith before they heard and believed the Gospel which tells of the True Christ and what He has done. The question, then, must be asked, ‘what was it they believed which so convinced them that they were saved?’ Whatever it was they could not have been trusting in the True Christ for Scripture clearly teaches that a man truly trusts in Christ "...AFTER that ye heard the Word of Truth, THE GOSPEL of your salvation: in whom also AFTER that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph.1:13). Salvation is not simply a matter of believing, but BELIEVING THE TRUTH!! These people judge themselves and others saved because they sincerely ‘cried out to God for mercy’ and ‘had many experiences with God’ and ‘had many prayers answered’. By these subjective means they judge themselves and others saved all those years ago despite, at the time, believing false doctrine concerning the Person and Work of Christ which is central to the Gospel Message. How many times do you think Paul the apostle believed his prayers were being amazingly answered by the True God while he was a Pharisee and of his father the Devil? After hearing and believing Christ’s Gospel Paul realised he had, up to that point, been a lost man. He did not hang onto ANY of his religious efforts and experiences whilst lost in false religion, but stated quite clearly: "Yea doubtless, and I count all things (all he did and all he was) but loss for the EXCELLENCY OF THE KNOWLEDGE of Christ Jesus my Lord: for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in Him not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the Faith of Christ, the Righteousness which is of God by Faith" (Phil.3:8,9). That knowledge of Christ came by the Gospel, by which God calls all His elect. How can any man be saved by believing in a false gospel which tells of another jesus and not THE Jesus of God? This is a question of supreme significance, for when one realises that no one can show evidence that they are saved who does not believe in Christ’s Gospel, one is left with the ultimate question, ‘what then is the Gospel?’ Lost religious people today either reject the Gospel or deny that it is the Gospel. This is the Life and Death issue we must deal with and concern ourselves with. No matter how knowledgeable a person may be about any other matter, be it religious or not and no matter how religious or moral a man may be, NONE are, or will be saved, who believe not and abide not in the one and only Gospel of the Holy God: "But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are LOST: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which BELIEVE NOT, lest the Light of the glorious GOSPEL of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (2 Cor.4:3,4).

Man is a very sentimental creature who believes that as long as he does his best he will find favor with God. That ‘God is a good guy who won’t really send anyone to Hell’. Man indulges in emotional rather than objective judgement judging value or worth according to sentiment rather than according to objective fact. He judges a person saved and of God because they have been so nice to them over the years or because they are so sweet and kind or a much loved family elder. But God is not a sentimental Being. God is a Just God and what He does must be in perfect conformity with His Holy Character, or He would cease to be God. God is Love, but "God does not sacrifice His Holiness to His love" (AWP). God is God. He is Holy and He is Just. He would cease to be God if He did not adhere to His promise that all who obeyed the Law perfectly would be saved, and to His threat that all who disobeyed the Law, even in one point, would rightly be damned: "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10). God’s law is Holy and His Justice inflexible. Many who give intellectual agreement to God’s Gospel judge themselves as not lost in those days before hearing the Gospel but saved, albeit ignorant, of many truths concerning God and His Gospel Message. This is based on a standard of judgement other than God’s Standard and is a denial of the Gospel Message. Scripture states clearly that it is eternally opposed to such deadly thinking. God states that if the Gospel be hid, if one does not see, understand and comprehend its Message, it is hid to them which are LOST. Not to them that are saved but ignorant of its Message; not to them that are saved but need to come to a better understanding, but to them who are L-O-S-T: LOST! The Word of God never once refers to those who have not heard the Gospel, or do not believe it, as ignorant but nevertheless saved people. Nowhere will you find any statement in Scripture that a man is saved BEFORE hearing and believing God’s Gospel. Ignorance of the Gospel is not something of which any saved child of God is guilty. The apostle Paul prayed for the salvation of those who were lost, whom he referred to as ignorant of and not submitted to the Righteousness of God (Rom.10:3). Those for whom Paul prayed were still going about trying to establish a righteousness of their own, showing conclusively that they were not trusting in the Righteousness of Christ alone for all of salvation and did not believe the Gospel wherein that Righteousness is revealed. The Word of God states plainly that God judges them LOST who do not believe and abide in the doctrine of Christ: "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son" (2 Jn.9). All who are ignorant of, or not submitted to, the doctrines of God’s Holy Gospel are, whilst in that frame of mind and at that point in time, LOST, under Wrath and accursed of God, as were even the elect before being made alive unto Him and believers in His Gospel, according to His grace (Eph.2:1-10).

Why? Why is it so important to believe all the doctrines which make up the terms of God’s Gospel Message? And for that matter, why is doctrine so important anyway? (See the booklet ‘God Loves Doctrine’). It is important because if one does not hold to these teachings, which are nothing less than God’s very Testimony on the matter of salvation and on Who His Son is, what His Son has done and for whom He has done it, one must be holding to other teachings about these issues, such as election, the total inability of man to come to God in an of himself etc., and what Christ did in and through His Atoning death. This would mean that one held to a view of these life and death issues that was not conformed to God’s Word on the matter. Again, none are saved who hold sincerely to beliefs which differ from what God has said and which stand in opposition to His Gospel. The deadness of a person’s spiritual state is not always revealed by what they say they believe, but is made apparent by what they do not believe. A person may hold to several Gospel doctrines and yet unbelief of even one of these teachings cancels out the rest and shows that the person does not have saving, justifying faith which has no trouble believing all the doctrine of Christ. Some protest and say, "But not all are theologians. You don’t have to know doctrine, you just have to know HIM." One man’s response to this absurd and dangerous reasoning is, "The only way you CAN know HIM is by the Gospel doctrine, the doctrine of Christ, that identifies and distinguishes HIM from counterfeits....It is a man’s doctrine which identifies and distinguishes the God he worships and serves" (WP). If that doctrine does not agree with Christ’s doctrine, then he cannot be worshipping the True God. If he believes false doctrine, then he believes in a false god which cannot save. Only if one believes in the True Gospel can he be worshipping the True God. ALL FALSE RELIGION IS BASED UPON A FALSE KNOWLEDGE OF WHO GOD IS AND WHAT HE HAS DONE. Counterfeit teachings are the basis upon which man’s testimony about these issues is formed, which make up false gospels which not only do not agree with what God has said about saved and lost, but defiantly oppose the True Gospel. To some degree they all promote the righteousness of man and do not rejoice solely in the Righteousness of Christ. Such teachings are in essence anti-Christ. Christ says that if a man believes the Gospel then he shows that he is saved, because he evidences the fact that he believes God’s Testimony and not that of false gospels concerning the Person and Work of Christ, and trusts solely in the Righteousness of Christ and in nothing that comes from himself. He also states that a man who does not believe the Gospel, this includes all those who are either ignorant of it or not submitted to it or do not believe it is the Gospel or that it is necessary to believe all of it before one can count themselves saved, as the DAMNED!! "...He that believeth not (the Gospel) shall be damned" (Mk.16:16; see also 2 Thess.2:12). The cursed of God are those people who do not believe God’s Gospel which reveals the Righteousness of Christ as being the only means whereby a man can be saved. Without the Righteousness of Christ man continues in his vain attempts at establishing a righteousness of his own, showing that he believes one can attain salvation, or at the least maintain it, by his best efforts at obeying God’s Law. Yet Scripture tells us clearly that those who follow the law and expect acceptable righteousness to come from that imperfect obedience, are under the curse of God: "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them" (Gal.3:10). If a man thinks that obedience to even one law is necessary to the ground of salvation, he denies the Gospel and the Righteousness of Christ and is a debtor to do the whole law (see Gal.5:2-5).

It is incumbent upon every man, therefore, to learn what the Gospel that must be believed in, IS. No person will be acquitted of any sin on the excuse that though they believed in a false gospel, they sincerely believed it was the True Gospel which spoke of the True God and His Christ. You cannot shift the blame of your sin of not believing in Christ’s Gospel onto another. It is YOUR responsibility! The Gospel is God’s Testimony concerning man’s spiritual state and the terms laid out by God as to how a man is to be saved. Anything that is out of line with this Testimony presents a false view and is not of God. Anyone who believes that they were saved or that one can be saved before hearing and believing all of God’s Gospel, before they ever abided in the doctrine of Christ, is not of God for they cannot be basing their ‘salvation’ on the Righteousness of Christ, which only the Gospel of Christ can reveal. No one can rightly claim to believe in the Righteousness of Christ if they also believe that they were saved before hearing of that Righteousness or believing that salvation is, in part, conditioned on their obedience. The reason for this is that a man who believes in Christ’s Righteousness rejects everything he ever did, or was, prior to hearing of that Righteousness, which he thought recommended him to God, and that true belief in Christ’s Righteousness believes that all of salvation is conditioned on Christ and that any thought of contributing to what Christ has done to gain, or maintain, our salvation is blasphemous and an outright denial of the Gospel. Man’s efforts, man’s works, man’s sincerity of belief, man’s tears of remorse over sin, man’s zeal for God, in fact, anything that originates from within man, can never make him righteous (acceptable unto God). If it did, then according to the apostle Paul, Christ has died in vain: "...if righteousness come by the law (i.e. man’s sinful, imperfect efforts at obedience), then Christ is dead in vain" (Gal.2:21). Paul is saying that if righteousness, in whole or in part, is achievable by a man’s efforts at obedience, then Christ has died in vain. There is no other Righteousness than Christ’s Righteousness which infinitely meets the demands of God’s law and Justice. Paul stated that even if one were to add circumcision to the merits of Christ, then Christ would not profit that man at all: "Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you NOTHING. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law" (Gal.5:2,3). If any man thinks that his salvation is conditioned on Christ’s work AND even one act of obedience on his part, even if he attributes that obedience to God, then the Word of God says that that man must obey the whole law perfectly or perish. Man is not only a debtor to obey the law perfectly but, having sinned, he is also a debtor to pay the penalty in full which his sin has incurred. Every man must appear before the Holy God either with Christ’s Righteousness or his own. It is either one or the other. Either you appear before the Holy God with the Perfect Righteousness of Christ, imputed, or your own imperfect righteousness. You cannot come to Him with both. If you come to Him with Christ’s Righteousness, you will not want anything to do with your own righteousness (Phil. 3:9) and if you appear before God on Judgement Day with your righteousness, you must stand alone and your eternal future will depend on your imperfect obedience to God’s perfect Law. You cannot appeal to Christ, if you look to anything outside of Christ and His Perfect Obedience, for all of salvation. If you trust in your efforts at obedience as forming any part of the ground of salvation, to any degree, you will be accursed forever. If you depend on anything which you have done, will do, can do, don’t do or never have done etc., as forming any part of the ground of your salvation, you are a LOST person and your righteousness before the Holy God is as filthy rags (Isa.64:6). If Righteousness before God is obtainable outside of His Gospel Message by an act of obedience on man’s part, in addition to what Christ has done, then the redemption of man did not require the death of the Son of God as Mediator and Representative of all whom God had given Him. Christ’s very Death was for the Redemption of the elect of God, the Precious Blood which He shed was for the remission of all of their sins (see Heb.9:15;10:18). If salvation comes by a work of obedience to God’s law on the part of sinful man, then it must be a perfect obedience to the WHOLE of God’s law. The best a man can do is offer to God an imperfect obedience to some of His laws and complete disobedience to most. Such an offering is unacceptable. The sincere remorse and good intentions to lead a moral life, a life of love towards God and towards others, regardless of what doctrines one believes, is all that is necessary to obtain salvation according to the purveyors of false doctrine. These types of teachings appeal to the sinful nature of man and exalt him, his works and experiences and deny the Pre-eminence of Christ in all things, including the matter of salvation.

It is vital for this writer to make a very clear statement at this time so that I am not falsely accused, in the minds of any, of playing God. I am not in any way saying that all of the (living) people I have thus far described are ETERNALLY lost. I am not calling any living person, who holds to a false gospel, a reprobate or beyond salvation. However, those who have died believing in false gospels and false religions, which promote false gods which cannot save, are most definitely and eternally lost. What I am saying is that at the particular point in time when one evidences a belief in false doctrines which deny the Gospel and are void of belief in God’s Gospel, they do give evidence that they are CURRENTLY in a lost state and under the wrath of God. Before being brought to a saving knowledge of Christ (Who He is and what He has done), all God’s elect believed in lies, counterfeit gospels and counterfeit christs and would still, were it not for the Grace of God. Every true believer was at one time under the wrath of God and headed for hell until, at the time God had appointed, He opened the eyes of their understanding and revealed Himself to them in His glorious Gospel and gave them the Gift of Faith to believe that Gospel: God’s Testimony of how a man is saved (see Acts 13:48).

Some may wonder what use an article like this is because it seems so negative. On the contrary, this is the most powerfully positive message you will ever hear. In any case, even if a message is negative, this does not mean it is not dealing with reality. Others might say how arrogant this writer is for even thinking that he can say who the lost are and who the saved are. I hope that, if you are one of these people, you will not take on the arrogance of which you have falsely accused this writer, and not read on to learn of my answers to such false conclusions. In fact, read on to the end my friend, and learn for yourself what the Gospel is. Firstly, I am not judging saved and lost according to my standards. This is something of which those who do not believe in God’s Standard of judgement are guilty. That is arrogance and presumption my friend. This writer has no standard other than God’s Standard, which He has made clear for all to see in His Holy Word (Jn.5:24; 2 Jn.9) and by which His people are to judge. How can Christians obey the command to not have religious fellowship with the lost, if they cannot judge who the lost are? The reason for this article is to show from Scripture what GOD says concerning saved and lost. It is designed to teach the Gospel and also to provide the Scriptural definition of who the lost are and why they are judged lost by God. This is not done to condemn people or put them down, but to show them their state before God and of their need to repent and believe His Gospel. No one considers a doctor, who has informed his patient that he has cancer, to be insulting or belittling his patient. It is the doctor’s duty, however difficult it might be, to inform the patient of his condition and then to prescribe the cure. All that this article does is diagnose the disease and also provide details of the guaranteed cure. Unlike cancer, which can go into remission and later return, a saved man’s sins will never return to haunt him for his sins have gone into permanent remission, by the blood of Christ. It is important to realise that believing in a false gospel does not make a man lost, but rather is an evidence of his lost condition, into which all men are born. Believing in a false gospel is evidence of a state of condemnation and not the initial qualifier for condemnation.

The message presented in this article is a very simple message. It is a message which is presented in love so, that any who are mistaken in their beliefs that they are saved and who are ignorant of God’s Gospel and not yet submitted to His Righteousness, might at least hear the truth. It is not done in a spirit of arrogance or with an attitude of superiority, but it is done with the love a parent has for it’s child when it lovingly corrects him. The child is thrilled that he believes 2 + 2= 5. Would it be considered a loving act on the part of the parent to leave the child in his error? Is it enough that the child believes that the true answer is whatever number he feels comfortable with? Would it be considered a loving act to allow the child to remain in error because one did not want to hurt his feelings by interrupting his happiness by correcting him? The parent who truly loves the child does not leave him in his error but lovingly and gently corrects him and tells him what the true answer is. Can such an act be condemned? Of course not! True love corrects and instructs in order to bless and edify. Such is the attitude of this writer. It is not to cause unnecessary offense to any, though I know many will be offended. That’s what the Gospel Message of God is to those who refuse it. It is a Message of offense just as its Author, Christ Jesus, is called the Rock of offence in Scripture: "As it is written, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offence; and whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed" (Rom.9:33): "And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the Word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed" (1 Pet.2:8). It is not to cause controversy for the sake of controversy. In fact it is they, who hold to false beliefs and false gospels, who are the authors of controversy: "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences CONTRARY TO THE DOCTRINE which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ..." (Rom.16:17,18). It is the ones who teach false gospels contrary to God’s Gospel who are the ones on the outer causing all the troubles not the preachers of Truth. God is not the author of confusion (1 Cor.14:33) and His people are not the administrators of confusion but the ambassadors of Truth. The only ones who are upset at the Truth are those who have yet to be given a love for God’s Truth. It is those who are disobedient to the True Gospel that take offence at the True Christ it promotes.

My friends, if the apostle John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, could make a statement such as: "We know that we have passed from death unto Life..." (1 Jn.3:14), showing that he was sure he and the believers he was writing to, obviously judging them saved, had passed from a state of being unrighteous to one of Righteous in Christ in the sight of God, having been eternally made alive unto God, then it is clear that the believer can, and is, to know for certain that he is saved. There is an Objective Standard by which we can judge ourselves and others saved or lost. It is called the Gospel of God. Some will argue, ‘But why is it so important to judge a person saved or lost? Why can’t I just let the person believe what they want to believe?’ The Christian has been commanded to preach the Gospel to every creature. If a person does believe the Gospel we can rejoice with them and if a person’s beliefs do not conform with the Doctrine of Christ, we can then preach the Gospel to them in the hope they will believe it. The Christian does this in obedience to his Christ, and because we have a concern for souls and a deep desire for people to believe our Gospel. True love seeks to correct and instruct with right doctrine. The satanic version of love is to believe whatever it is you believe and let others believe whatever it is they believe. This ‘live and let live’ approach does nothing but promote and glorify ignorance. Listen to the apostle Paul’s response to some in Rome whom he obviously judged saved: "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have OBEYED from the heart that FORM OF DOCTRINE which was delivered you" (Rom.6:17). That form of doctrine was Christ’s doctrine i.e. His Gospel. Belief of the Gospel is obedience to that Gospel and is the principal act of obedience of every truly born again person who has been made a new creature in Christ. The reason why there is so much uncertainty concerning whether a person is saved or not amongst professing christians is that their ‘salvation’ is not COMPLETE in Christ but is conditioned on their maintaining a life of obedience and good works. These people are often taught that they are saved by grace, but unless they live a moral upright life they may lose their salvation. The ‘grace’ these people are being taught is NOT the grace of God. Scripture says that righteousness is by faith and not by works (Rom.9:30-32): "Therefore it is of faith (not of works), that it might be by grace; to the end the Promise might be SURE to ALL the Seed..." (Rom.4:16). We have a Standard by which to judge saved and lost and it is called the Gospel. He who believes it, that is, understands and abides in its doctrines, is saved (2 Jn.9). He who disobeys and rejects God’s Gospel and does not believe it, will be damned. Many ‘teachers’ in protestant denominations today say that a man must believe the Gospel, but then fail to identify and distinguish that Gospel from all others. Rarely do they ever say that a person who names the name of Christ, yet abides not in all of Christ’s doctrines, is lost. And most of their followers simply presume that they know the Gospel, when all they know are a few historical facts about what happened to the Messiah. God will take vengeance on them "...that KNOW NOT GOD, and that OBEY NOT THE GOSPEL of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thess.2:8). One cannot separate knowing God, from believing His Gospel. YOU CANNOT HAVE ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER! The only hope for sinners is revealed in God’s Gospel Message: "For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before IN THE WORD OF THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL" (Col.1:5 see also v.6). The sure hope of Heaven lies in the doctrines of the Gospel. Scripture says that the time for judgement is come and "...what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God?" (1 Pet.4:17; see also 1 Pet.2:8).

Paul the apostle warned the believers in Galatia that if any were to come to them preaching another gospel, one which differed even in the slightest degree with what Paul had preached to them, this was the principal, irrefutable and undeniable evidence that those men, whoever they might be and however great their reputation was, were in an accursed state. Paul states in Galatians 5:9 that "A little leaven leaventh the whole lump." Leaven in Scripture is symbolical of false doctrine (Matt.16:11,12). Paul did not say one word about, nor did he even consider, the morality, or lack of it, of such men. Nor did he say that any man, no matter how great his reputation, was exempt from his judgement. He judged them ALL as false teachers, lost men, who brought with them a false gospel which cannot save. If their teaching, or doctrines, differed with His, which He knew without a shadow of a doubt was God’s very Gospel, they were lost: "...if any man preach ANY OTHER gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed" (Gal.1:9). Far from being sent of God, false preachers of false gospels are accursed of God. Had they been saved men at that point in time they would, no doubt, have preached the same Gospel Paul had preached. The true believer is commanded to "...believe not every spirit, but try (test, or examine) the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (1 Jn.4:1). Christ commended the believers who tested those who came to them claiming to be apostles and who were found to be liars (Rev.2:2).

So we see from this, that of course we can and are to judge saved and lost, but we are never to do it according to appearances or reputation. Hence Paul’s following warning: "But though WE, or an ANGEL from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Gal.1:8). The Christian is to base his judgement on what doctrine a man believes and teaches. We are never to judge a man saved because of who he is, or was, how elegant and ‘christlike’ his appearance, or according to his reputation or how eloquent his speech. We are not to judge by how many books the man has written, how many sermons he has preached, by how much he claimed to love the Lord or by how many times he shouted ‘HALLELUJAH!’ Nor are we to judge a man saved by the multitudes who recommend and accept his writings as Christian. Paul was so sure that what he had preached to the Galatians was THE Gospel, that he told them in essence, ‘don’t even listen to me if I come to you six months from now telling you anything different from what I have already told you. Even if an angel comes to you with loud trumpet blasts and yet tells you anything different from what I have told you, DO NOT BELIEVE HIM!!’ One can see from Paul’s emphatic warnings that the Gospel is indeed a specific message made up of particular doctrines. The great news in Paul’s warning to the Galatians, and to every believer, is that we have God’s Sure Word. We have a Gospel that we can be absolutely sure is God’s Message and that EVERYTHING else is nothing but dung. No matter the appearance or reputation of a man, this will not confuse the believer for we have been told that if any one brings not THIS Gospel, they have not God: "If there come any unto you, AND BRING NOT THIS DOCTRINE, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds" (2 Jn.10,11). Once you have heard, know and believe that Gospel, then no matter how loving and nice and gentle etc., any may be who come to you professing a love for God and yet preaching another gospel, the true believer will never be deceived by a false gospel or another christ (see Matt.24:24). Again, John makes it quite clear in 2 John 9 that "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son."

Let me also state quite clearly that we are to pray for the salvation of every man for we do not, and cannot, know beforehand that God has not chosen them unto salvation. That is one of the reasons Christ’s command is to "...Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mk.16:15). What I am saying is that a man is currently in a lost state if he does not believe the Gospel and that if a man does believe the Gospel, and believes that Gospel to the end of his life, this not being a condition but an evidence of salvation, that he is surely one of the chosen. We are not to become preoccupied as to whether or not a man is elect. ‘Is he elect, are they elect, am I elect? What if I am not elect? I want to believe but maybe I’m not elect.’ These are foolish questions which generate strife. What a man needs to be concerned with, is what is the Gospel and does he believe and abide in it. We are to be patient with all men and seek for opportunity to preach God’s Gospel to them and pray that the Lord will have mercy upon them if it be His will (see 2 Tim.2:23-25) . Preach the Gospel to EVERY creature is the command of the Lord Jesus Christ to all His people.

One inescapable fact of life is that man is a sinner, even at his conception (Psa.51:5; see also Job 14:4), bound for and deserving of hell, for this race of man is an accursed one which has offended the Holy God and chosen to go its own way. By the grace of God alone, through the Person and Work of Christ alone, some, a multitude according to the Word of God, have been elected and made vessels of God’s mercy (Rom.9:21-25). They have been chosen to receive a love for His Truth and to receive it with childlike faith (2 Thess.2:13,14). These are the ones who have an eternity of bliss ahead of them. There are others, though, who have not been chosen but have been left with their sin which they so deeply love. These "...received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved...who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2 Thess.2:10,12). The Sovereign God has mercy on whom HE wills. In answering Moses, who had asked the Lord to show him his glory, God said: "...I will make all My GOODNESS pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; AND WILL BE GRACIOUS TO WHOM I WILL BE GRACIOUS, AND WILL SHOW MERCY ON WHOM I WILL SHOW MERCY" (Ex.33:19; see also Rom.9:11-16). Having not received the love for God or His Truth, the damned take great pleasure in unrighteousness and rejoice in the lie that man can, of his own free will and religious effort, find favor with God and ultimately recommend himself to God by his own works of obedience. They see the True Gospel as the doctrine of Satan and the God of that Gospel as Satan himself (Matt.10:25). What blasphemy to think that any in this state could possibly be a child of God, born again of His Spirit! Those who are either ignorant of, or who have rejected God’s Gospel—His Way of salvation—or those who give a mere intellectual acknowledgement to God’s Gospel and yet who speak peace to and consider as brethren all, or at least some, who abide in a false gospel and reject God’s Gospel, are LOST. Satan was the first ‘peace-speaker’. Most people who have gone on to hell, were convinced they were on their way to heaven because they believed and trusted their religious leaders who spoke peace to them, assuring them they were Heaven bound. Satan promised Eve that, contrary to God’s promise that if she and Adam ate of the forbidden fruit they would surely die, she would not surely die if she disobeyed what God had said. He spoke peace where there was no peace and so do those who speak peace to followers of false gospels, for they say they are saved when they do not believe God’s Gospel. As we have already learned, God will take vengeance on those who disobey His Gospel. Do not be deceived. God will fulfill all His promises, including that of eternal damnation to all who believe not His Gospel.

Everyone outside of Christ falls into this one category: they go about trying to establish a righteousness of their own. The lost continually look to something other than, or in addition to, the Person and Work of Christ to find assurance for their ‘salvation’, for they have yet to believe in Christ and His Righteousness alone as being sufficient to meet all the conditions of salvation. If one seeks after salvation by works, one is not, and will not, be saved on that ground, just as the Jews did not find that which they sought after because they sought it not by faith in Christ’s Righteousness, but by seeking to produce a righteousness of their own by their own obedience: "But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone" (Rom.9:31,32). And that stumblingstone was, and is, Christ and His Righteousness. They believed, in their lost condition, that they had to do something in order to gain, or at the very least, maintain salvation. They are believers in and promoters of a false gospel who say that salvation, in some part and to some degree, is conditioned on the sinner, in what a man does. They deny that all of salvation from beginning to end is solely of grace and conditioned on Christ alone. They do not obey God’s Gospel. Having been ‘saved’ by the Spirit of grace, they believe that they can ‘stay saved’ by the power of their own works rather than by the power of God, as the Bible teaches (1 Pet.1:5). They operate in the subjective realm and give great credence and trust to what a man can do for God, whilst rejecting the perfect Righteousness of Christ. The reason why it is so evil to think and believe that a man’s efforts can in any way, to any degree, contribute to his gaining or maintaining salvation, is that this flatly denies what God has said about what Christ has done. God states that it is only through, and by the Merits of Christ, that a man is saved: "...by the obedience of ONE shall many be made righteous" (Rom.5:19). No one was ever, or will ever, be made righteous based on their obedience. An individual’s obedience is NOT the ground of salvation, for salvation is by faith in what Christ has done and not by what a man can do (2 Tim.1:9,10).

All false religions have one thing in common: works! They all condition salvation or the maintaining of it on man’s obedience. Only God’s Gospel, which reveals Christ’s Righteousness alone as the only ground of salvation, denies man’s efforts at obedience as forming any part of the ground of his salvation. Salvation is not by a work, it is by a SAVIOR! Only the Light of the Gospel exposes everyone of man’s religions as false religions which condition salvation on a man’s efforts (see 2 Cor.4:3,4), and only the Light of the Gospel of God reveals perfect Righteousness as the Standard of eternal salvation, exposing mans’ best religious efforts at obedience to establish an acceptable righteousness before God, as nothing but wicked works. Man trying to establish a righteousness of his own is the height of wickedness, for this is an outright rejection of the only Righteousness by which a man can be saved. Such an act accuses God of being a liar, for He has stated that by Christ’s Righteousness alone shall many be justified. That justification comes by a perfect Righteousness and not an imperfect obedience. The True Gospel is the ONLY Message which gives ALL the glory for salvation to Christ. NO GOSPEL OF MAN’S DOES THAT! Every false gospel leaves room for man to boast. They all teach that at least some part of salvation is conditioned on man. The best argument that believers in false gospels can come up with in defence that their beliefs do not take any glory away from God, let alone leave room for a man to boast, is, ‘though salvation is conditioned on man to some degree, it does not give man room to boast or glory and does not take away any glory from Christ, because anything man does to meet any of the conditions is attributed solely to Christ and His enabling a man to meet the criteria.’ This sounds so reasonable but it is devilish to the core, and could only come from the depths of a man’s depraved heart and his fleshly insistence that he play some part in his salvation. Listen to how Christ Jesus, in a few short verses, wipes out this type of thinking: "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I THANK THEE, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I FAST twice in the week, I GIVE tithes of all that I possess.’ And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, ‘God be merciful unto me a sinner.’ I tell you THIS man went down to His house justified rather than the other: for everyone that EXALTETH HIMSELF shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted" (Lk.18:11-13). Notice here that the Pharisee thanked God that he was not like other men. He then proceeded to boast of what he did, obviously believing, in light of his attitude towards the publican, that his acts of obedience in some way contributed to his gaining God’s favor, even though he evidently attributed all the good he did, not to himself, but to God. The publican, however, did not mention even one ‘good’ deed that he had done. He brought none of his righteousnesses with him, but humbly asked for God’s mercy, not seeking or expecting to be justified by any of his own works, whether he attributed them to God or not. He did not expect his works to make the difference between Heaven and Hell, but only God’s Mercy. And Christ said this man, rather than the Pharisee, was justified. Notice also that Christ referred to the Pharisee, who attributed his good deeds to God, as one who exalted himself. Be not deceived. Those who claim that salvation is conditioned on man to some degree, yet say that they do not take any of the glory for salvation away from Christ because they attribute their meeting certain conditions to God’s enabling power, are exalting themselves, according to Scripture. Their gospels teach a salvation by works, for they leave room for a man to boast even when he is attributing all his obedience to God. Such people are LOST. By this we see that boasting is not excluded by a gospel which teaches that salvation is conditioned on a man’s works, but it is only excluded by THE Gospel Message which teaches that salvation is by grace through faith in the Person and Works of Christ Jesus the Lord (see Rom.3:24-28). Such a Gospel leaves a man no room in which to boast. Faith in this Gospel seeks not to exalt the believer but humbles the believer, excluding all boasting, for it conditions all of salvation on Christ. (See Rom.3:24-28).

You may obtain the booklet ‘God’s Only Gospel’ from this author, which teaches the Gospel in greater detail than space will allow in this article. However, it will be explained sufficiently here so as to show to one and all that there is no other Message like it. It stands alone and opposed to every false gospel out there, just as the True Christ does from all counterfeits and just as the Holy Spirit does from all deceiving spirits and just as God does from all false gods. It is a truly unique Message, for it is GOD’S Message. All other messages of salvation have a common bond and are inseparably connected, for they all originate with man and are conditioned on man. The True Gospel originates with God and is conditioned on Christ. One of the reasons God Almighty has described Himself in Scripture so clearly is so that there will be no mistaking Him from the many false gods which this world is full of: "Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is NONE like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My Counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth My Counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it....and there is no God else beside Me; a Just God and a Savior; there is none beside Me. Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else" (Isa.46:9-11, 21,22). No so-called god can do what the True God has done and will do. God has described Himself in such a manner that there can be no mistaking His Words. So, too, God’s Gospel is something which is precisely and clearly expressed, leaving nothing to implication. It is something, contrary to the misgivings of false preachers, that is specific and particular and capable of being clearly grasped by the mind. It would have to be, otherwise how could Christ have expected His people to preach it and believe it? How could a man ever evidence a belief in the Doctrine of Christ if His Gospel cannot be defined? In contradiction to the lie of many false preachers that the Gospel cannot be defined, the Bible defines it quite clearly. Again, how could any man say he believes the Gospel if the Gospel is something which is indefinable? To say that the Gospel is indefinable is an insult to one’s intelligence. How could Christ have commanded His people to preach the Gospel if they did not know for certain what it was and could never define it, could never identify and distinguish it from all false teachings? How could Paul the apostle have warned others of false gospels if they did not know what the true Gospel was and thereby recognize that which was false? The saving Message which God calls His Gospel, is not subject to man’s interpretation or sentimental thoughts of what he believes God is like and how God saves. God has not Authored many and varied versions of His Gospel. It is ONE specific Message and all who do not believe it are, at that point in time, under God’s Wrath. God’s Gospel is made up of specific doctrines which all contribute in defining just Who God is and what God has done. It reveals His Redemptive Character, it reveals the Righteousness of Christ by which a man is justified and made holy in the sight of God and it also stands as an eternal Testament that all those who do not subscribe to it are in a lost state. Most know that God is Love. But few are aware that God’s love is a Covenant love, which love is found solely in Christ Jesus (Rom.8:39) His Son. God’s love abides on those whom He has chosen to receive His love and every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies (see Jn.17:15-23). Every one of these chosen ones will hear the voice of God in His Gospel message which has gone out to every corner of the earth. Christ has said with assured confidence that ALL of His people WILL hear His voice and follow Him: "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me" (Jn.10:27) and "...Everyone that is of the Truth heareth My voice" (Jn.18:37). Therefore, those who will not hear the voice of the Word of God show plainly that they are in a lost state, blinded by the god of this world to the Truth that is God’s Gospel. This is one of the reasons that so many lost people who name the name of Christ insist that one cannot define the Gospel. "...ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep..." (Jn. 10:26; see also 2 Cor. 4:3,4).

Many, from the Roman Catholic priest to the Reformed minister, will come to you and say that the Gospel is simply the death, burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And most are under the impression that a simple and basic acknowledgement of these historical facts about what happened to the Messiah, coupled with a moral life and regular Bible reading and church attendance, is enough for one to evidence a saved state. Let me make it quite clear that the Gospel is NOT about believing in what HAPPENED to the Messiah, but is about knowing and believing what the Messiah DID to save His people from their sins. If simply believing in events such as the death, burial and Resurrection of Christ were the Gospel, as many falsely believe, in its entirety, then most professing christians would be saved for they all teach and believe these things, from the so-called Jehovah’s Witnesses who deny the deity of Christ, to the Roman Catholic, to the snake handlers of the Appalachians. People who teach and believe this to be the whole Gospel, which they take from 1 Cor.15:3,4, fail to notice an important and vital statement at the end of these two verses: "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES; And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES." Yes, the Bible teaches that Christ did die, was buried and was Resurrected but importantly it teaches that Christ’s death, burial and Resurrection were to occur specifically according to the Scriptures, meaning the Old Testament. The Lord Jesus said: "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they WHICH TESTIFY OF ME" (Jn.5:39). This takes believing in the Gospel out of the realm of a mere acknowledgement of some historical events and building a religion around them, to actually KNOWING what was done in and by Christ’s death and Resurrection etc., and believing it ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES.

What we need to ask ourselves is: ‘What is the death of Christ all about? What is it to believe in Christ? What does the Bible mean when it refers to Christ dying for the sins of His people? What does the Old Testament say about the death of the promised Messiah? What happened in His death? What, if anything, was accomplished by His death?’ These are the questions many simply do not ask themselves. They believe that these issues belong to theology and those who have the time to study these matters properly. That it is enough to have what they call a ‘simple faith’ and believe these events occurred and to live a life which is morally in line with such beliefs. My friends, if you do not know what Christ has done to obtain redemption for all those whom God has given Him, your faith, far from being a simple faith, is NO faith at all! It is certainly not the faith that comes from God, which believes in the Person and Work of His only Begotten Son. The Bible says that eternal life is to KNOW Him: "And this is life eternal, that they might KNOW Thee the only True God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent" (Jn.17:2). It is vital that a person be taught the full Gospel Message which tells of the Person of Christ and what He has done through His life and death and how this has saved a multitude, because these things must be heard, understood and believed in if we are to rightly say that we abide in the doctrine of Christ and believe in His Gospel. "The Gospel of God is the Gospel of Christ (Rom.1:16), for it exhibits the excellencies of His glorious Person and proclaims the efficacy of His finished work" (see 1 Cor.2:2) (AWP).

In bringing forth the Gospel Message, we must start with the foundation before going on to build the house. The foundation of the Gospel message is the doctrine of the lostness of man. Many say that though man is lost and out of fellowship with God, he can still come to God of his own free-will. They say that man is not dead in sin but merely sin-sick and in need of healing. He is not drowned in sin but is merely drown-ing and needs but to be thrown a life-saver which he would readily take hold of. The Scriptures, however, say different. Man is dead in sin. Ephesians states that every believer, before being made alive unto God and His Truth, was dead in sin: "And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph.2:1). The word for dead here is nekros meaning ‘a corpse’ or ‘dead’. A man would be foolish to even contemplate arguing against such clear and unmistakable language when faced with such irrefutable evidence as this. Moreover, the word ‘die’ as used by God in His warning to Adam in Genesis 2:16,17 means ‘dead’, ‘worthy of death’, ‘destroy’, ‘die’, ‘kill’, ‘slay very suddenly’. In fact, in EVERY instance where the word ‘die’ is used in both Old and New Testaments, ALL speak of death, NONE refer to a mere state of sickness! In his natural state, the Bible says man cannot understand the things of God (1 Cor.2:14). This is what is meant by being dead to God. Religious man is not dead to the fact that God exists, that He is Creator of all, that there is a Trinity and that God is Love etc., but man is dead to God’s Way of salvation (Rom.3:10-18). He cannot savingly believe in God’s Gospel unless God Himself makes that man alive unto Him, granting him the Faith needed to believe. The Lord Jesus says "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him....It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing....therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto Me, except it were given unto him of My Father" (Jn.6:44,63,65). Man has his perverted and idolatrous ideas of God and thus constructs many a monstrous idol in his mind which he calls ‘God’, and to which he even attributes some truths about the True God. But man can never come to a saving knowledge of the True God in and of himself. The Bible says the following about those who are given the power to become the sons of God: "Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (Jn.1:13) and "So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy" (Rom.9:16). As one man has wisely stated: "A man’s free will cannot cure him even of the toothache, or of a sore finger; and yet he madly thinks it is in its power to cure the soul" (A.T.)

If man is dead in sin, then it is obvious that he can do nothing to make himself spiritually alive. How can a rotten apple, however pleasant its aroma may still be, ever make itself free of its rottenness? Scripture asks: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil" (Jer.13:23). This corresponds with the Scripture found in Romans 3 which says that there are none who do good. If man, then, in his lost state cannot do good, how can he ever expect to come to God of his own free will? Christ said a man needs to be born again (Jn.3:3-8). Jesus, in effect, told Nicodemus, a Pharisee who was a strict adherer to the law of God and who outwardly appeared righteous unto men, that his obedience to the law was not enough to recommend him to God but that Nicodemus, like any man, must be born again. He must come to God with a Righteousness he cannot produce and a repentance of all which he has produced in attempting to find favor with God. Christ was not speaking here of a man needing to be physically re-born but of his need to be spiritually born again, which is to say, born of God, to be saved. Being born again is not an option. All those who are born again are born of God, born of His Word which is His Seed. They all believe and abide in God’s Gospel. A man is born again through the Seed of God’s Word contained in His Gospel Message. Every justified sinner is saved by "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, BY THE WORD OF GOD, which liveth and abideth forever" (1 Pet.1:23); "Of His own will begat He us WITH THE WORD OF TRUTH..." (Jas.1:18). What is this Word of Truth which James is talking about? What is the Word of God to which Peter refers as the incorruptible Seed by which a man is born again? What is the Word of Truth to which Christ was referring when He prayed "Sanctify them through Thy Truth: Thy Word is Truth" (Jn.17:17)? The answer is made clear in Scripture and may be found in Ephesians 1:13: "In Whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the Word of Truth, (=) THE GOSPEL of your salvation..." The apostle Paul stated: "...in Christ Jesus I have begotten you THROUGH THE GOSPEL" (1 Cor.4:15). There it is. The Word of Truth by which a man is begotten of God is the Gospel of God. To be born of His Seed is to be born of His Word and that Word is the Gospel. Scripture literally teaches that to be born again is to be BORN OF THE GOSPEL! To be given birth to by the Gospel Message, which is the very Seed of God wherein eternal life is encased. The Word of Truth by which a man is sanctified (made holy) is the Gospel of Christ. No one can be truly born again, born of God, unless they have heard, understood and believed in the Word of God, His Gospel, which is the Seed that must be sown in their hearts that there might be Life. Unless they have had that Seed of God sown in hearts prepared by God to receive it, it will not take root and they cannot bear good fruit. In the parable of the sower, the Lord Jesus identified the Seed as the Word of God: "...The Seed is the Word of God" (Lk.8:11; see also Mk.4:14; Matt.13:19). He also explained that "...he that received seed into the good ground is he that HEARETH the Word, and UNDERSTANDETH it; which also beareth fruit..." (Matt.13:23). Christ spoke to the multitudes in parables and explained why in Matthew 13:11: "...because it is given unto you (the apostles) to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to them it is not given."

Salvation, being made spiritually and eternally alive unto God, is, as we have seen, not according to the flesh. Salvation is not according to a man’s will or his works, his zeal or his dedication, but according to God’s grace. God "...hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, NOT according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, Who hath abolished death, and hath brought LIFE and IMMORTALITY to light THROUGH THE GOSPEL" (2 Tim.1:9, 10). God is the only One Who can give physical life and He is also the ONLY One Who can give spiritual life. Just as a man cannot cause his physical conception or birth so, too, he cannot in any way be the author, the cause, the originator, the instigator or in any way the catalyst, of his spiritual conception and re-birth. Something which does not exist cannot will itself into existence. God gives spiritual life according to His grace and purpose, according to HIS Free Will and not according to man’s, for he has none when it comes to the matter of spiritual regeneration. Scripture says that God has chosen, in Christ, a people unto Himself from every nation from before the foundation of the world: "According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world" (Eph.1:4) and "...for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation" (Rev.5:9). There was, and is, no other way for a man to come to God unless the Father has, by grace, chosen him and drawn him (Jn.6:44) and to whom the Son has revealed Him: "All things are delivered unto Me of My Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him" (Matt. 11:27).

Before anyone was ever born God had already chosen those who would become His very own children so how, in light of this Scriptural Truth, can salvation be according to a man’s will or works or in any way be conditioned on a man’s efforts to please God and meet certain criteria? The Bible teaches that "...while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom.5:8), and that God justifies the ungodly (see Rom.4:5; 5:6). If salvation was conditioned on a man’s works, then salvation would be as a result of works and not by grace through Faith in Christ’s Works. Paul stated: "And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work" (Rom.11:6). Paul also made the point quite clear when he said: "I do not frustrate (neutralize or violate) the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" (Gal.2:21). What Paul is saying is that if Christ is not, by His Person and Work, the Author and Finisher of all of salvation, then He is no Savior at all. If any part, no mater how minute, of salvation is obtainable or maintainable by an imperfect work that man can do, then the grace of God is neutralized (nullified) and Christ has died in vain. He is either All in All or nothing at all. If salvation was conditioned on a man’s works which God enabled him to do, then salvation would no longer be purely by grace and man would be a co-savior with Christ. Christ would have done His part and man would have performed his part, with the aid of God, and together a state of salvation reached. It is ironical that so many who call themselves ‘protestants’ raise the alarm and frantically wave the warning flag when they hear the Roman Catholic Church talking of Mary as being a co-redemptrix (co-redeemer) with Christ, when all the while many of the professing ‘protestant’ churches themselves teach that man is a co-savior with Christ when they condition any part of salvation on man! While they may not actually teach this in so many words, they speak peace to, and consider brethren, those who do! What deception and delusion. Truly, the deceived who are in such a state of spiritual stupor do not know, and will not accept, that they are deceived.

Election is not the sole means by which a man would be saved but was the beginning of the process of salvation. ‘Salvation is primarily a matter of law and justice’ (W.P.). God’s Holy Law and Justice demand satisfaction or no one can be saved. This is why God the Son, Jesus Christ, was sent into this world. To become the Satisfaction for all those to whom God had chosen to grant eternal life. A Perfect Righteousness, which included a perfect sinless existence from the womb to the tomb, had to be established, by which a man could come into the Presence of God and not suffer His eternal wrath. God’s Law had to be obeyed perfectly for any man to be saved and God’s Justice, which demands eternal damnation for any and all law-breakers, had to be satisfied. How could this be done? God says of Himself that He is "...a Just God and a Savior..." (Isa. 45:21) but how could God remain Just and yet be the Justifier, the Savior, of the ungodly? The Scriptures explain this clearly in the following passage: "Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation (Satisfaction) through faith in His blood, to declare His Righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time His Righteousness: THAT HE MIGHT BE JUST AND THE JUSTIFIER of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what