BEWARE OF FALSE TEACHERS WHO ARE ATTEMPTING TO REDEFINE FAITH HERE ON YOUTUBE…
Guys, there are some false teachers here on YouTube teaching that faith and belief are 2 different things. One who professes to be a grace believer but who mixes law and grace constantly, claims that many people believe in Jesus but don’t possess “saving faith.”
There is nothing new here since many false teachers misapply amd misappropriate “even the demons believe and tremble” from The Book of James as an attempt to demonstrate that believing in Jesus isn’t sufficient for a person to be saved.
Of course, demons, like the head honcho demon himself, Satan, believe that Jesus existed and that He is the Eternally Existing Son of God, God The Son. But they have never BELIEVED in Him as Lord & Savior and, as a result, shudder in fear, because they are aware that their eternal destination is The Lake of Fire.
But the works salvationist false teacher will claim that “even the demons” believe in Jesus implying that they believed in Him as Lord and Savior but didn’t demonstrate sufficient “saving faith” to actually be saved and that the same thing can happen to a Christian who has believed on Christ but didn’t demonstrate sufficient “saving faith” during their lives and can end up in the Lake of Fire with the demons. UTTER AND COMPLETE HOGWASH!!!!!
The truth is that as I and many others have explained, belief comes from the Greek word, “pisteuo” and it means to be firmly persuaded that something is true, to entrust, TO BELIEVE.
Belief and faith are used interchangeably throughout the Bible and are SYNONYMOUS!!! When the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas, “what must I do to be saved,” they responded by telling him to “BELIEVE on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” (Acts 16:31 KJV)
And when Jesus forgives (saves) the sinful woman in Luke’s Gospel at the Pharisee’s house, He tells her that her “FAITH has saved her.” (Luke 7:50)
FAITH=BELIEF
Those who believe in and teach that it is not enough to BELIEVE in the finished redemptive work of Jesus Christ ALONE for the remission of all your sins and eternal life and that a person must demonstrate additional “saving faith” are essentially attempting to add an additional requirement to the Gospel.
They are playing a VERY dangerous game by attempting to redefine what it means to believe. Words have precise and specific meaning! And we are told to RIGHTLY divide the WORD of TRUTH!
Asserting that belief and faith have different meanings confuses people and ultimately backloads works. Those who teach this nonsense are essentially teaching Calvinism. Plain and simple!
They will say, “It’s not enough to believe The Gospel (that Jesus died for all your sins, was buried and rose again on the 3rd Day according to the Scriptures for your justification). You must also demonstrate saving faith that endures till the end as proof you are saved and if you don’t have a sufficiently changed life, you may want to ask yourself if you were ever truly saved to begin with.”
But I am here to tell you that faith and belief are the same thing!
Saving faith IS BELIEVING that Jesus died for your sins, was buried and rose again on the 3rd Day according to the Scriptures.
Saving faith is BELIEVING The Gospel! Period!
We are not saved by believing in Christ (in His death, burial and ressurection) and then kept saved by our continued “saving faith.”
God saves a person FOREVER the NANOSECOND he/she believes in (places their faith in) His Son Jesus Christ as Lord & Savior. God sovereignly saves you and sovereignly keeps you saved forever! He promises he will never leave you nor forsake you. That you can never be plucked from His Hand, that NOTHING can separate you from His love, that you will never perish and that even when you are faithless He always remians faithful and that He will NEVER change His mind (repent) about the FREE GIFT of salvation He gave you!!!
Ironically (and sadly), those who claim believing in Jesus and His finished redemptive work on The Cross ALONE isn’t sufficient for a person to be saved and that they must demonstrate additional “saving faith” to truly be saved are demonstrating that they, THEMSELVES, have not trusted in Jesus Christ ALONE for salvation and in doing so have placed their faith in a different Gospel and are therefore in a state of UNbelief because they are ultimately trusting in themselves and their own “saving faith” demonstrated by their changed lives and behaviors instead of trusting in Christ and what He accomplished on The Cross alone..
But Jesus died for these folks as well and my prayer is that they would repent (change their mind) and BELIEVE The Gospel ALONE and KNOW that belief and faith are SYNONYMOUS and that BELIEVING in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior IS the ONLY requirement for a person to be saved for all of eternity!!!!!
“For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever would BELIEVE in Him would not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
