Following is a quote from Luther from his commentary on Galatians. After Luther's quote, I make an attempt to explain what it means.

Luther: The true meaning of Christianity is that a man first acknowledge, through the Law, that he is a sinner, for whom it is impossible to perform any good work. For the Law says: "You are an evil tree. Therefore everything you think, speak, or do is opposed to God. Hence you cannot deserve grace by your works. But if you try to do so, you make the bad even worse; for since you are an evil tree, you cannot produce anything except evil fruits, that is, sins. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin, (Romans 14:23)."

When a man is taught this way by the Law, he is frightened and humbled. Then he really sees the greatness of his sin and finds in himself not one spark of the love of God; thus he justifies God in His Word and confesses that he deserves death and eternal damnation. Thus the first step in Christianity is the preaching of repentance and the knowledge of oneself.

The second step is this: If you want to be saved, your salvation does not come by works; but God has sent His only Son into the world that we might live through Him. He was crucified and died for you and bore your sins in His very body (I Peter 2:24). Here there is only wrath, sin, terror and death. Therefore the Law only shows sin, terrifies, and humbles; thus it prepares us for justification and drives us to Christ. For by His Word God has revealed to us that He wants to be a merciful Father to us. Without our merit—since, after all, we cannot merit anything—He wants to give us forgiveness of sins, righteousness, and eternal life for the sake of Christ. For God is He who dispenses His gifts freely to all, and this is the praise of His deity. But He cannot extend this deity of His against the self-righteous people who are unwilling to accept grace and eternal life from Him freely but want to earn it by their own works. They simply want to rob Him of the glory of His deity. In order to retain it, He is compelled to send forth His Law, to terrify and crush those very hard rocks as though it were thunder and lightning.

A Christian is not someone who has no sin or feels no sin, he is someone to whom, because of his faith in Christ, God does not impute his sin. This doctrine brings firm consolation to troubled consciences amid genuine terrors. It is not in vain, therefore, that so often and so diligently we inculcate the doctrine of forgiveness of sins and of the imputation of righteousness for the sake of Christ, as well as the doctrine that a Christian does not have anything to do with the Law and sin, especially in a time of temptation. For to the extent that he is a Christian, he is above the Law and sin, because in his heart he has Christ, the Lord of the Law, as a ring has a gem. Therefore when the Law accuses and sin troubles, he looks to Christ; and when he has taken hold of Him by faith, he has present with him the Victor over the Law, sin, death, and the devil—the Victor whose rule over all these prevents them from harming him.

Therefore a Christian, properly defined, is free of all laws and is subject to nothing, internally or externally. But I purposely said, "to the extent that he is a Christian" (not to the extent that he is a man or a woman): that is, to the extent that he has his conscience trained, adorned, and enriched by this faith, this great and inestimable treasure, or, as Paul calls it, "this inexpressible gift" (2 Cor. 9:15), which cannot be exalted and praised enough, since it makes men sons and heirs of God. Thus a Christian is greater than the entire world. For in his heart he has this seemingly small gift; yet the smallness of this gift and treasure, which he holds in faith, is greater than heaven and earth, because Christ, who is this gift, is greater.

This definition is so important to understand that I would appreciate it if you would allow me to expand upon it and make it as clear as I can. Luther often spoke of working on the foundation of justification; allow me to do this now. In fact, this is all I care about, making what it means as clear as possible. This is arrogance on my part because Luther already makes it clear to those who truly want to know and understand the article of justification. I am simply trying to make i simple and easy for those who may be called to understand and celebrate this wonderful gift we call justification. I begin by asking:

What is the purpose of the Law? Simply put, the Law has but one singular purpose, that is, to crush us, humiliate us, defeat us morally, spiritually, ethically, to counteract our wisdom, religious experience and reason, and to overall slay us in word, thought and deed. This truth is even found in the Baptist Hymnal, hymn # 138, "At Calvary." This song states: "Years I spent in vanity and pride, caring not my Lord was crucified…Then I trembled at the Law I'd spurned." The songwriter writes this truth just before he goes off into all the good decisions we then can make as {false} Christians. But he is correct on this point, that we spurn the Law. It is our nature to spurn the Law. This is evident in the fact that we don't begin to understand the ramifications of the Ten Commandments, for they are far-reaching. We take comfort in not having killed anyone, but we slay our neighbor daily with our tongue and slay the Word moment by moment with our unbelief.

How many laws are there? Two, really. Boiled down, there is the "Law" to love God and the Law to love one's neighbor. All other laws flow from these two, whether they flow from God Himself, or civil authorities which are ordained by and under the auspices of God. If we loved God and our neighbor, there would be no need for ANY other laws.

What is the chief sin? I will not quibble on this point, but I would take it as selfishness, from which pride flows. As we talked Sunday, there are "good" instincts in man, but man perverts these instincts to please and prosper his self. For instance, the desire to be a mother is "good" and godly, but the common practice of using children to please oneself is perversion. Again, the impulse to contribute to the common good of society is godly, but we pervert this when we contribute with the design to create some kind of gain for ourselves.

Therefore, the Law, in all its manifestations, is directed toward our selfish nature. We all want to be "as gods." We all want our own little empires where we reign supreme. The Law was given to keep these "empires" in check and show us that while we may be gods, we are evil gods and have a supreme need of the One, True God. So I ask you, can you give examples of your selfishness? Do you see your tendency to build your own kingdom rather than the Kingdom of Christ?

Do you believe you are an evil tree? Sure, most everyone can see that he commits sin now and then, doesn't quite measure up once in awhile. But do you believe that you are completely evil? Even your "good works?" This is the interesting thing I found as I compared various commentators with Luther on Psalm 51. Luther is the only one who addressed this Psalm properly by saying that the issue at hand, "That Thou might be justified when Thou judges," is that David is speaking of his good works—NOT just his obvious sins. David was condemning even his good works. Job says the same thing, "I feared for all my works." I began to understand depravity and my true need for grace and mercy—that is, true Christianity, when I read Luther and he quoted Augustine: "Even our good works need God's pardoning mercy." Before this I would never have condemned my good works, even though I thought I believed in and understood depravity. I didn't really believe my whole tree was evil. My belief that I could do good works which pleased Christ made me smug, self-righteous and a hypocrite. Of course, no one could ever have convinced me of this, just as most people cannot be convinced of this today. Why? Because the Law of God is not properly taught. "Christians" are not properly slain today. Our pastors allow us to live as if there is some good in us. Our pastors have confirmed us in our hypocrisy. Remember and consider that Luther said that when we look at what we do, we have lost Christ.

Do you have the courage to prove you try to merit God's grace and gifts? Come on now, don't you think your good works, good intentions, and religious zeal and love for God make you just a little better Christian—maybe even a little better than others? Do you not realize that even your paycheck is a gift from God? Why then do you take credit for it, brag about it, and take pride in your accomplishment? Children are a gift. Why then do you take credit for their traits as if you had something to do with it? You have gifts and talents from God. Why do you rejoice in them as if you acquired them of yourself?

Fact is , you violate faith. Why? How? Because faith is evidence of things unseen. You walk by sight. You are happy when you see your bills paid, etc. Faith, based on the Word, believes something beyond all experience, reason, and understanding. Let's say I told one of my sons to get married. I have just given my son the Word of God, for God works through authority—a most unpopular American concept. If he has faith, and cannot present a truly "sound" argument to the contrary, then he will leap into the scary unknown and marry, despite what he sees. He sees the risks, responsibilities and problems of marriage. But faith takes no notice of these, but walks in the light and confidence of the Word. James says that whatever is not of faith is sin.

All our sins should terrify us! We are sinners through and through and despise faith constantly, yet these sins don't seem to concern us too much. We seem to feel we are not quite that bad. We think we have some true spark of the love of God, which we don't. Our whole being is about hating God, not loving God. We steal from Him every moment and we want to prove we love Him! We take His air and brag about our strength; we take the knowledge He gives and brag about our intelligence; we take His creation and use it as if we owned it ourselves; and worst of all, we take His glory of salvation, thinking we contribute something to it. How can something so vile as ourselves contribute anything to salvation? What decision can we make? Tell me, what do you have to offer the Lord?

If you are angry with me right now, disinterested, or don't relate to what I am saying, you despise the preaching of repentance which draws one to true salvation. You don't really want to be a sinner. You assume you just need a partial salvation, and not a full salvation. You just need justification more or less. You are a hypocrite and rob God of His glorious salvation. No matter that you confess you are a sinner; if you still want to retain your good works or think there is some goodness in you, you fool yourself and have a false faith. It is for this reason that Luther could say belief is more important than faith and works. Why? Because both must flow from the Word. For faith to be true, it must be consonant with the Word of Truth.

How do you describe terror? Even the Baptist songwriter said he "trembled." Where is this trembling today? I don't see it. I barely see it in myself. There is only one reason for this, the preaching of the Law, well, there is no true preaching of the Law today; nor has there been for a very long time. No matter. We are in the here and now and must deal with what is before our eyes at this point in time. Terror must be restored. We experience terror today in different forms; anxiety, for example. We know we deserve to be punished, but don't relate this to the Word. Instead of seeing our true sinful, evil condition before a holy God and accepting His full salvation in Christ, we take this human awareness of deserving punishment, turn it into anxiety, and use it selfishly. We may use it to gain pity or to improve ourselves, either way is selfish and godless. Either way we become our own savior.

To the degree that we are terrorized by the Law, we have an appreciation for the Gift of God which we have in Christ. If all we need is a pill or counseling, then we don't need Christ. We can pretend we need Christ, but we are fooling ourselves. Terror at offending a holy God must be restored within your own heart and mind if you want to be a Christian. But modern mind has done away with terror on a wide scale. Sunday I used the illustration of, say, a society which had lost the concept of the color red. To restore this color in one moment might overwhelm them and they might all start acting like bulls who see red. So one might gradually introduce the concept. Red food coloring could be added to water gradually so the people could become accustomed to greater and greater depths of the color. In like manner, terror can be re-introduced into the human mind and heart. Anxiety can be explained and seen for what it is: punishment for sin and faithlessness. Just accept this and call it what it is. You deserve to be punished for you sin. If you are going to experience punishment, at least agree with the Word that this is what it is. When you agree that you are being punished for your sin, you agree you are, in fact, a serious sinner, and you constantly see your need for grace. As things are now, so-called Christians brag about deserving hell, but don't dare rebuke them for any sin which they don't embrace as sin. These hypocrites are truly sorry for sins—the ones they recognize as sin. In this way you could gradually acquire a true Christian mind. This whole life is a punishment for sin. This whole life is a purgatory, a purging. As they say, "No good deed goes unpunished." Even the world notices that good deeds are punished. Why would God do this? So we would trust in His grace and mercy and not in our own selves.

If you believe you have salvation apart from being terrified by your sins or allow your "goodness" and good works to comfort you, you are a false Christian. At this very moment, your heart and conscience should trouble you. If it does not, then you should refrain from blasphemously partaking of the Lord's Table without confessing this sin against the Holy Spirit and imploring, pleading, and begging God to grant you a troubled heart, mind, and conscience. (It would not concern me one bit to give the Meal to a smug Christian who confessed, in theory, that this smugness was wrong, but who prayed to be delivered from it. He would be agreeing with the Word contrary to his reason; there is hope for a person such as this.) Of course, it goes against human nature to want any of these three bulwarks of our spirit (heart, mind, and conscience) to be troubled; hence, all the activity to keep them at peace. And God wants these to be at peace; as Luther says, "Nothing should disturb our spiritual sleep." This spiritual sleep must only be sought according to His Word of grace. But all our activity—all the works we put in our conscience to quiet it—only makes us sin against the Holy Spirit who is always trying to convict us of our sin and need for grace. When we refuse to be convicted of sin, we become smug and impenitent—we sin against the Holy Spirit. And for this sin, there is no forgiveness. Once the human heart has become this smug and conceited, man is well-nigh hopeless. This is what will happen to the church in the Last Days. In the midst of so much religious activity, fervor, and zeal, there will be no true mourning over sin. Did I say the Last Day; I am sorry, I meant today.

Allow me to define:

Are you afraid? Concerned for your sins and smugness? Are you humbled, even humiliated? Then salvation is, at this moment, close to you. You lack one thing: the righteousness of Christ. ONLY the righteousness, merit, satisfaction, atonement, grace and mercy of Christ.

From "this moment" onward, you must continuously look for, search for, ferret out your inclination to be justified by your own activity, good works and the warm thoughts which flow from your belief about these works—they make you a better or worse person. This is true only as a citizen of a community, but is idolatrously false as it pertains to the Kingdom of Christ. As a fellow member of a community, you have the responsibility to prepare yourself to contribute to the best of your ability and gifts to further the good of that community. But what makes heaven on earth, makes hell in heaven. In heaven, things spiritual, God has no need of anything you have to offer. All things come from Him anyway. He only wants your faith—that is, a simple, childlike, belief in His Word—not your opinion about His Word. You can run yourself ragged living in accordance with your private opinion about His Word, but you will one day hear these terrifying words, "Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity; for I never knew you."

If you fail to look for this blasphemous tendency to justify, prove your own merit, feel good based on what you do or leave undone, then God cannot give you forgiveness of sins, peace, and eternal life. For these are aspects of His deity and this He cannot, will not, share with the proud, whom He steadfastly resists. These people rob God of His deity and glory. They are and love being their own god. Those who persist in this idolatrous blasphemy will experience the full force and terror of the Law for eternity.

So far, you have learned a true Christian is one who is acted upon two ways: 1) he condemns himself in his sin and his good works; 2) he seeks only the righteousness of Christ by faith.

This two-step person no longer has sin. But you say, "I know I have sin, so I must not be a Christian." At this point in time you feel guilty. (Keep in mind you don't have to feel guilt in order to be guilty. This is why David prayed to be cleansed from "secret sins." For this reason we should study the Law and what it means so we can become bold sinners with Luther, unafraid of what we find out about our nature, our selves; for we know this sin does not cling to us. Our sin clings to Christ and we must see it cling to Him.)

Again you say, "But I feel, see, and experience sin clinging to me." I answer: "It clings to your flesh, not to your spirit. That is, sin dwells in decreasing measure in your heart: it must not be allowed to dwell in your conscience." Thus, as Luther said, we are saint and sinner. According to my flesh, my old nature, a feeling of diminutive shame in my being, I experience sin, need the Law, rebuke, punishment, guidance, preaching, etc. But according to my conscience, that is, my new man created through the Word by faith by the renewing of my mind (belief system), I am absolutely, positively, because of imputed righteous, free from sin, without spot or blemish, holy, pure, untainted from sin. I am absolutely free, having no need of law or anything whatsoever to "spur" me on to the love of God and His creation.

In this new man—this new conscience—only Christ dwells by faith. To allow sin into my conscience is to commit adultery, fornication, and lewdness in the very presence of Christ, My true Husband. I am His bride and only He is allowed into the bedchamber of my conscience. This conscience must be trained. Hence, the ministry of the Word through ministers. A proper ministry of the Word properly educates the mind, which receives this Word by faith, against all reason, wisdom and in spite of the will. (As I said Sunday, there are many sins I have given up against my will. If I had my will/way, I would still be practicing them, for my nature loves them. But God has graciously given me victory over many sins without the aid of my will. They are just gone as a result of believing these simple, yet profound words: This is My body; this is My blood, given to you for the forgiveness of sins. Gradually, this forgiveness of sins in the Meal, transforms the works of my flesh into conformity to my new man. And all this is done despite willpower and good intentions. Therefore whoever teaches willpower, decisions, commitment, etc, knows nothing of the true Christ. This person is a false christ, an antichrist.)

An improper ministry teaches outright or seductively implies we can make choices, decisions, greater effort to become better and better Christians. This is satanic and a doctrine of devils. To the contrary, if the Word dwells richly within you by faith, you are already the best Christian, in the sight of God, you will ever be. The only thing lacking is the outward expression: that is, your new body. Let me add that you can make a work out of "the Word dwelling richly within you" and feel guilty that it does not. I believe that all this means, simply put, is what I have already given testimony to: I believe EVERYTHING I need is in the Word, that is, in the Meal and in my Baptism. This is the true richness of the Word. This is the true meat of the Word.

You say, "This is a bit confusing. I am and am not a sinner. I do and I don't need the Law. I am and I am not free from all external and internal restraint." I respond: "A Christian walks I two worlds simultaneously. He has his feet polluted by sin, while his spirit remains in pure holiness unto the Lord."

Let me give you an example. I want, I crave to feel my sin. I feel this in my heart, in the pit of my stomach. Why would I want this miserable experience? For one, it's a legitimate experience I have because I am a sinner. I do not measure up in my flesh to "my" Christianity—my imputed righteousness. For another, it reminds me of my need for Christ, what He has saved me from, and this pain of sin directs me toward a proper fear of the Lord. Let me hasten to say that I would be a false christian if I trusted in my own contrition. One could trust and take comfort in this sorrow for sin and justify himself just because he had a sorrow for sin. But this would not be casting your sin on Christ, would it? As Paul says, this is the sorrow of the world, which works death. Feeling sorrow for sin and improper things done is a usual human experience. Casting this sin on Christ and doing nothing to atone for it is most unusual—many are called and few are chosen. Most want to atone for their own sin in some way or another. In feeling this guilt, shame, and sorrow, they somehow think they are better people and impress themselves with their holiness and good intentions. Yes, aren't we all preoccupied with impressing one another, and deceiving ourselves, with our good intentions?

Here is how I can be saint and sinner at any given moment. I can experience the consequences of sin in my heart, in my flesh, that is, in the pit of my stomach or heart area. My heart may break because of sin or disappointment about life. But, in my conscience, which has been built upon my new mind on the Word, I am, in fact, sinless, at peace, joyous, happy, content, victorious, victor, strong, and vibrant—that is, I am IN CHRIST. So, in one moment, I am experiencing two worlds: saint and sinner.

God has given us the Law to remind us we are sinners and in need of His mercy and grace. He is much like a good parent who does not spoil his child, but rather teaches the child that he is imperfect. Vulgarly I would say a good parent must teach a child that his shit stinks in such a way that the child does not come to believe that he, himself, stinks as a person. In like manner, God teaches us that we totally stink without Christ, but are wholly fragrant in Christ.

What has God given to keep us in the faith, to remind us of our saintliness, to confirm out minds that we are, in act, sons of God? Yes! He has given us the Word. But how does He feed us this Word, seeing we are so weak and frail, having only this dimness of faith, as Luther calls it, (Paul says we see dimly), to escort us to Heaven? He gives us Baptism and His Supper—the true expressions of, yea, the true Word of God.

When we remember our baptism, we reflect on what God has said and done: "I delivered you from sin, death and hell." These are not the minister's words, but God's Word. Too bad most of Christianity holds these words in such low esteem, bringing them down to their lowly level. When we celebrate, feast upon, and consume the body and blood of Christ, we are celebrating, feasting upon and consuming our absolute victory over sin through Christ, the Word of God. We remember what Christ is doing for us at this very moment—delivering us from sin and its consequences. Too bad so many work so hard, make so many decisions commitments, choices, exertions, to acquire what Christ freely gives in This Meal!

So, when my heart aches because of sin and sin's consequences, and the devil or my old nature wants to push these sins up into my conscience so that I can ensnare myself in the trap of self-righteousness: that is, doing something to appease my conscience other than just trusting Christ, my mind shouts: "I am a Christian, O shitty devil! O wretched man!" That is:

"I have been baptized! I just took communion two days ago and I look forward to eating the forgiveness of sins next week and next year. Because of these promises of God's Word. You, O devil, world, and wretched man, must remain in the shithouse of my old nature. You cannot, must not come into the cleaned and cleansed bedchamber of me and my Christ with your feet dripping with my shitty sins and good works!

I will close with this Luther quote. It is a bit long, but I edited it as much as possible. The length is necessary for effect, because our hearts are so cold and our minds believe we know and understand when really we don't. As I finished reading this quote I broke into sobs. Why sobs? An admixture of my sins contrasted, set over against, His beautiful mercy. This quote also goes a long way in further explaining, Bethany, your questions of late about what to allow into conscience.

Luther: These two things make Christian righteousness perfect: The first is faith in the heart, which is a divinely granted gift and which formally believes in Christ; the second is that God reckons this imperfect faith as perfect righteousness for the sake of Christ, His Son, who suffered for the sins of the world and in whom I begin to believe. On account of this faith in Christ God does not see the sin that still remains in me. For as long as I go on living in the flesh, there is certainly sin in me. But meanwhile Christ protects me under the shadow of His wings and spreads over me the wide heaven of the forgiveness of sins, under which I live in safety. This prevents God from seeing the sins that still cling to my flesh. My flesh distrusts God, is angry with Him, does not rejoice in Him, etc. But God overlooks these sins, and in His sight they are as though they were not sins. This is accomplished by imputation on account of the faith by which I begin to take hold of Christ; and on His account God reckons imperfect righteousness as perfect righteousness and sin as not sin, even though it really is sin.

Thus we live under the curtain of the flesh of Christ (Heb. 10:20). He is our pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, to keep God from seeing our sin. And although we see it and feel remorse of conscience, still we keep running back to Christ, our Mediator and Propitiator, through whom we reach completion and are saved. In Him is everything; in Him we have everything; and He supplies everything in us. On His account God overlooks all sins and wants them to be covered as though they were not sins. He says: "Because you believe in My Son, even though you have sins, they shall be forgiven, until you are completely absolved from them by death."

Let Christians strive to learn completely and perfectly this doctrine of Christian righteousness, which the religious of today neither understand nor are able to understand. But let them not suppose that they can learn it thoroughly all at once. Therefore make the effort to read Paul often and with the greatest diligence. Let them compare the first with the last; in fact, let them compare Paul as a whole with himself. Then they will find that this is the situation, that Christian righteousness consists in two things: first, in faith, which attributes glory to God; secondly, in God'' imputation. For because faith is weak, as I have said, therefore God's imputation has to be added. That is, God does not want to impute the remnant of sin and does not want to punish it or damn us for it. But He wants to cover it and to forgive it, as though it were nothing, not for our sakes or for the sake of our worthiness or works but for the sake of Christ Himself, in whom we believe.

Thus a Christian man is righteous and a sinner at the same time, holy and profane, an enemy of God and a child of God. Very few will admit this paradox, because they do not understand the true meaning of justification. This was why they forced men to go on doing good works until they would not feel any sin at all. By this means they drove to the point of insanity many men who tried with all their might to become completely righteous in a formal sense but could not accomplish it. And innumerable persons even among the authors of this wicked doctrine were driven into despair at the hour of death, which is what would have happened to me if Christ had not looked at me in mercy and liberated me from this error.

We, on the other hand, teach and comfort an afflicted sinner this way: "Brother, it is impossible for you to become righteous in this life, that your body is as clear and spotless as the sun. You still have spots and wrinkles (Eph. 5:27), and yet you are holy." But you say: "How can I be holy when I have sin and am aware of it?" "That you feel and acknowledge sin—this is good. Thank God and do not despair. It is one step toward health when a sick man admits and confesses his disease." "But how will I be liberated from sin, you ask?" "Run to Christ in your conscience, the Physician, who heals the contrite heart and saves sinners. Believe in Him. If you believe, you are righteous, because you attribute to God the glory of being almighty, merciful, truthful, etc. You justify and praise God. In short, you attribute divinity and everything to Him. And the sin that still remains in you is not imputed but is forgiven for the sake of Christ, in whom you believe and who is perfectly righteous in a formal sense. His righteousness is yours; your sin is His."

Thus a Christian remains in pure humility. He really and truly fels that there is sin in him and that on this account he is worthy of wrath, the judgment of God, and eternal death. Thus he is humbled in this life. Yet at the same time he remains in a pure and holy pride, by which he turns to Christ. Through Him he strengthens himself against this feeling of divine wrath and judgment; and he believes that he is loved by the Father, not for his own sake but for the sake of Christ, the Beloved.

From this it is clear how faith justifies without works and how the imputation of righteousness is necessary. Nevertheless, sins remain in us, and God hates them very much. Because of them it is necessary for us to have imputation of righteousness, which comes to us on account of Christ, who is given to us and grasped by our faith. Meanwhile, as long as we are alive, we are supported and nourished at the bosom of divine mercy and forbearance, until the body of sin (Rom. 6:6) is abolished and we are raised up as new beings on that Day.

I am only trying to help you understand what it means to be a genuine Christian; which cannot be done without sounding "depressing." Yes, Christianity is at least half-depressing because we are still in this flesh and need constant rebuke and censor. But a true Christian is not afraid to acquire a knowledge of himself because he or she knows there is no sin, personality trait, or attitude which Christ does not forgive and cover.

Luther: The Law produces in man the knowledge of himself as a sinner, who is therefore subject to death and worthy of eternal wrath. But what is the value of this effect, this humiliation, this wounding and crushing by this hammer? It has this value, that grace can have access to us. Therefore the Law is a minister and a preparation for grace.

False Christians believe their own works, worthiness, saintliness, good intentions, and choices are a preparation for grace. They can preach things like, "I am saved by faith alone without any action on my part," but live in such a way that makes their own words a lie. Their mind and life is filled with their own good works and worthiness which they cling to instead of Christ. From their black hearts come statements such as these, which you can hear any Sunday morning. While they think they are preaching the Word, they are really and truly discipling their hearers with doctrines of devils. Here are some examples I wrote down this past Sunday.

"If Christ came to your house, what would He find? Which room of your heart is off limits to Him?"

"When you say 'Yes' to Christ, He says to you, "I will provide for you, My child."

God says, "Take care to hollow my name and I will take care of your needs."

"I think these (Lord's Prayer) are promises for those who put Christ first in their life."

"Here is what God wants you to do: trust daily."

"The more I read, study and love this Book which I love so much, the greater my faith becomes."

"Let's pray and give you an opportunity to commit yourself to Christ and go deeper with the Lord."

"Lord, we know you will honor our commitment to You."

"The church of Christ should be the standard of change; we should be on the cutting edge of change."

"I know my changes will be according to the will of God."

"These are some things you can do."

"You've gotta get ahold of this and live this stuff. We must be masters at making change our friend."

"Please don't be guilty of this."

"My security is God if I can speak His name in tragedy."

"Be very careful what you do and especially what you don't do."

"If you want to have a negative life, don't do anything and weeds will grow."

"Wrong actions initiate negative change."

"The only way for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

"Your future is determined by what you sow."

"Read the Bible to find out how you are supposed to look."

"That's the fourth commandment and that brings success in life."

All these statements sound holy and pious, but are satanic. I could add the ones I have said in my life and the ones I heard from so-called Christian preachers, but once you learn to recognize a few, you can recognize them all, for they all come from arrogant hearts. True Christianity flows from the faith God imparts within us, just as an apple tree produces apples. The above statements put the focus on our will and not on God's will. And they are as stupid and silly as if a person would go and stand in front of an apple tree and keep saying, "You must produce fruit; it is God's will that you produce fruit; if you don't produce fruit, you are not an apple tree." Well, dah.

My dear children, you will not only have to battle within yourself to keep sins and good works out of your conscience, but you will also have to battle friends, family and fools who will mock you, saying your "brand" of Christianity is either too hard and difficult or too easy and convenient. The world always mocks God's Work and Word because it does not meet the expectations of their own reason.

To those who say your way is too hard, a sincere searcher might be helped by asking this question: If the Law, punishment, hell, death, and misery show you how much you need Christ, is it not worth it? To those who say your way is too easy, a sincere seeker might be provoked to thought with this question: How easy is it, really, to remove all sins and good works from your conscience, and replace them with nothing but Christ's imputation of righteousness—that is, you would never be discouraged because of any amount of sin and you would never feel good because of the good you did?

Blessings,

Dad