I read this at Truth Matters; it speaks volumes as to why we MUST continue to fight the good fight. We here at DefCon are in complete agreement with our brothers at Truth Matters. We must speak out against false teaching everytime, striking it down with the sword of the Spirit…the word of God. Please read the following post…
I am certain many of you are already aware of this STORY (Warning: Very Graphic). A gunman from Pittsburgh killed 3 people in a fitness center before turning the gun on himself.
The gunman left a diary on his website. The diary is very disturbing, but insightful, on what despair and hopelessness can lead to without a Spirit-led knowledge of Christ.
I have decided to post part of his diary below. Here at Truth Matters, the quote by the gunman really convicted us on just how extremely crucial it is for us to be obedient to Christ in communicating the FULL counsel of God which includes the BIBLICAL GOSPEL that involves REPENTANCE and TRUST.
Here is his diary quote:
“Be Ye Holy, even as I have been Ye holy! Thus saith the lord thy God!”, as pastor Rick Knapp would proclaim. Holy (expletive), religion is a waste. But this guy teaches (and convinced me) you can commit mass murder then still go to heaven. Ask him. In any case, guilt and fear kept me there 13 long years until Nov 2006.
Maybe soon, I will see God and Jesus. At least that is what I was told. Eternal life does NOT depend on works. If it did, we will all be in hell. Christ paid for EVERY sin, so how can I or you be judged BY GOD for a sin when the penalty was ALREADY paid. People judge but that does not matter. I was reading the Bible and The Integrity of God beginning yesterday, because soon I will see them.”
Pilgrim
thejunglemissionary
Bill
fourpointer
Manfred
abidingthroughgrace
Chris Hohnholz
It is true that murderers are also forgiven by Christ (Moses, David, Paul).
But it is also true that once the gospel grabs a hold of you, you do not want to run roughshod over your neighbors. You do not want to willingly hurt people and have that be your lifestyle. You do not want to disobey the One who has set you free.
Can we slip up? Certainly. But (to me anyway) this guy did not slip up, but took advantage of God’s grace for his willful murderous, premeditated act.
There are obligations for the believer. The law is still in place (as Jesus told us – until the coming of the New Kingdom).
This guy mentioned NOTHING of repentance. We cannot teach/preach a Gospel that is void of repentance. Yes, David murdered. Did he do it thinking he would soon see Jesus like this man did? No. The Spirit of God brought David to repentance over his sins, and does so with all who belong to Christ.
Where is the boldness to preach on repentance? Some even go so far as to say repentance is not part of the Gospel {quoting Ironside, who taught this}. They forget the warning of Christ Himself in Luke 13…Except ye repent, ye shall likewise all perish.
Or this from Acts 3:19, ‘Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord’ {both repenting and being converted are humanly impossible}
The gentleman who did this heinous act doesn’t show any fruit of being saved. He heard a Gospel that was void of repentance. He heard about a Jesus who loves,forgives, and saves. BUT, he never heard the ‘flip side’ of Jesus; the one who hates sin and commands we repent, or perish. He was convinced he could murder, and step into the presence of the Lord. His comment, ‘eternal life does not depend on works’, sounds just like the arguments I’ve heard from those who argue against repentance, claiming it is a ‘work’. The truth is, everything about salvation is of God; it all goes back to the easy believism, free will theology that is so embedded in American Christianity. We cannot be born again, repent, have faith, or believe in Christ unless the Spirit of God has first done a work in our hearts; the power of God re-birthing the dead sinner, and the cross of Christ reconciling that sinner back to our Holy God.
Lyn,
Right!
No repentance, no life.
Jesus said, “Repent and believe”.
Wow. How eye-opening. Sounds like the mass murderer simply followed the candy-coated, American gospel to its logical conclusion. How sad.
It reminds me of the despair displayed in the man in the video on this post; the American gospel is just peachy for the rich and healthy . . . until you’re on your deathbed.
- The Pilgrim
I am reminded of this quote from Scripture when I read a heart breaking article such as this:
Hebrews 10:28-31
(28) Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
(29) Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
(30) For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord. And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.”
(31) It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
How sad is this story?
John.
I think the important question here is this: Are we to justify sin because the Bible says we are justified by faith? Apparently this man thought that because he was justified in believing in
God, he was justified to break God’s commandments to not kill.
The better question to ask is: Where are we as the American church, and what it is that we are teaching that we have such a false impression of the grace of God that we can do everything satan does: kill, maim and destroy, and still get away with it? I thought we were called to do just the opposite, as Christians, to bring people to life everlasting.
Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Rom 6:3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
Rom 6:6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
Rom 6:7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.
Rom 6:8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
Rom 6:9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
Rom 6:10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
Rom 6:11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Rom 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.
Rom 6:13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
Rom 6:14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Rom 6:15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
Rom 6:16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
Rom 6:17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,
Rom 6:18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
Rom 6:19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
Well said, lyn & theoldadam!
This is very sad. Sounds like the sinners prayer plus “if the devil tries to tell you you’re not saved, look at the date in your bible when you accepted Jesus into your heart” Better to hear no gospel than a twisted version that produces the fruit of this mans life. As I was reading this I thought would he have even committed this crime if he wasn’t so sure of eternity. This is heartbreaking, he and his victims stand as a reminder to all of us to preach the whole counsel of God or sit down and shut up!
Such a sad and tragic event!
If only this man had been regenerated!