WHO IS SAVED?

The New Testament and the teaching of Jesus himself maintain a division of people between the wicked and the righteous. This division has nothing to do with belief in Jesus, because it’s a teaching that begins in the Old Testament. It is also supported by the standard dictionary definitions of the terms righteous and wicked. In the original Greek New Testament the word asevis, translated as disrespectful is often used in the place of the word wicked or ungodly. In the epistle of Jude the word asevis is found 6 times, once in verses 4 and 18 and four times in verse 15. In Matthew 13:41-43 those who offend and commit iniquity, angels will “cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth” and the righteous will go to the kingdom of the Father. In Matthew 13:49 the angels will separate the wicked from the just. These don’t give us the sense of believers in Jesus being saved and unbelievers being lost.

Let's see further. Jesus criticizes the scribes and Pharisees saying that they present themselves as righteous to people, but inside they are full of hypocrisy and iniquity (Matthew 23:28). In the parable in Luke 18:1-8 an unjust judge did not fear God and did not respect or regarded man. He violated the two great commandments of Matthew 22:36-40. In John 7:19 Jesus criticizes people for being lawless, they don’t keep the law of Moses. In Acts 7:53 it says about the Jews who received the law and did not keep it. In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus on the day of judgment separates the sheep from the goats and sends the sheep to his kingdom and the goats to the eternal fire. It seems that among the goats there were people who believed in God, and it is confirmed in John 10:26. In Romans 1:18 we are reminded that God hates disrespect and injustice (the precise translation from Greek) of men who suppress the truth, and he calls them fools (Romans 1:22).  2 Thessalonians 2:10 says “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” Let it be noted that love of the truth saves and not simply belief in the truth. God is the Truth, and the love of the truth is the fulfilment of the first of the two great commandments of the Lord. In 2 Thessalonians 2:10 Paul speaks of people that didn’t love the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. In 1 Corinthians 13 we are reminded that faith without love is dead. In James 1:12, 2:5 it is repeated that the love of God saves, which is the observance of the first great commandment of the Lord. In Jude 1:4 disrespectful believers are mentioned who deny the Father and Jesus with their bad character. In Titus 1:16, Paul says of people who are Christians in name only but in deeds they deny God.

The conclusion that comes from 2 Corinthians 6:14 is that unbelievers are not those who do not believe in God, but the wicked ones, the people who love darkness. I remind you the instruction of Jesus in John 7:24 “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” The verse that refers to Jesus Christ in Hebrews 1:9 says "Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”

Anyone who thinks that the man who believes in Jesus is righteous, then he should read 2 Peter chapters 2 and 3 which are a criticism of Christians who deny God with their wickedness and iniquity and they are destined for eternal punishment. Let's pay special attention to 2 Peter 2:5,8,9 and 3:13,7 in God’s judgment, what makes people righteous or wicked is practicing justice or unrighteousness and lawlessness, regardless if people believe in Jesus or not. He knows the hearts of men and has his own perception of who is righteous and who is wicked, which often differs from the perception of men "Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15) and "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26).

Jesus dined with publicans and sinners, which provoked the reaction of the Pharisees (Matthew 9:10-13, Mark 2:15-17, Luke 5:29-32). We never see Jesus dining with the Pharisees he rebuked, “for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14). He was hosted by a Pharisee during his ministry, but he was a man who called him because he loved what he saw in Jesus. He was never hosted by people who hated him and they wanted to kill him. He saw among publicans and sinners, people who wanted God in their hearts, but the Pharisees saw the surface. The same scene was repeated with Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10) who was a publican, and also the chief of the publicans. The publicans or tax collectors were the most infamous people in the Roman empire because they demanded as much money as their souls desired in the collection of taxes and illegally took a lot of money. Zacchaeus was such an offender “if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold” (Luke 19:8).

In the other scene when Jesus was eating with publicans and sinners, he answered the Pharisees "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." This meant that the righteous people as described in the Books of Psalms, Proverbs and Job had no need of repentance because they hated the sin that is expressed as injustice and iniquity. This is the repentance of the heart before God. True repentance, and true faith and love of God is of the heart and not of the mouth. Previously Jesus said "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick” Jesus is the physician of souls, and the healing of the soul is the desired salvation, so that man can love righteousness and refrain from evil. It’s not limited to the forgiveness of sins by the blood of Jesus. This is not understood by Christianity turning it into a shallow dogma, that one must believe in Jesus to be saved. The so-called Christianity overlooks that the gospel is for the salvation of people, whose souls are at the mercy of the flesh.

One of the great signs of ignorance of Christianity is that it forgot the law of Moses, and even worse, there’s an impression in the ancient denominations that the New Testament abolished the Old Testament. Jesus clearly stated “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” Matthew 5:17 and also Matthew 5:18,19. Jesus came to fulfill and it may have escaped the attention of the believers that Jesus, many times in his ministry, taught the commandments given to Moses, clarifying them more.

In Matthew 22:37-40 and Mark 12:29-31 Jesus said the two great commandments of the law are "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart” and “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”. When the rich man asked Jesus what he should do to have eternal life, Jesus didn’t answer him "Believe in me". He told him to keep the commandments given to Moses (Matthew 19:16-26, Mark 10:17-27, Luke 18:18-27). In the answer he omitted the love of God but included the second commandment "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”. In Galatians 5:14 and Romans 13:9 Paul says that the whole law is fulfilled by this commandment, that is, when you love your neighbor it means that you also love God. Psalm 37:27 (ESV) says “Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever.” In Matthew 13:41-42 Jesus says “all things that offend, and them which do iniquity” will be cast into a furnace of fire. What else is iniquity than the transgression of the law, and what else is offense, or scandals in the original Greek, than a lack of love and respect? In Matthew 13:49 “them which do iniquity” are now described as wicked. “So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just”. Wicked in this verse is actually cunning if translated straight from Greek. The same word “poniros” translated in English as cunning, is the description of the devil in the Lord’s prayer, “deliver us from the evil (cunning) one” (Matthew 6:13- NIV). When Jesus says to Satan "thou art an offence unto me" in Matthew 16:23, then whoever does the devil's will, offends God himself.

In the Bible righteousness is almost always contrasted with disrespect and less often with iniquity and less often with injustice. The word disrespectful (Greek: asevis), wrongly translated as wicked in English Bibles, reveals the violation of the two great commandments of the Lord because this man does not respect his neighbor and God. There is no possibility of respecting God and not respecting your neighbor or vice versa, because the love of God in man is one and the same. Either you love God and your neighbor or you hate them, and this is shown in the first epistle of John. For this reason either of the two great commandments alone fulfills the whole law.

The word lawless indicates a violation of all Ten Commandments. English translations of the Bible unfortunately translate disrespectful as wicked, thus obfuscating the meaning. The word disrespectful expresses very well the sin which God hates in man, but not the word wicked. Matthew 25:46 says that the righteous will have eternal life. Matthew 23:28 says that you cannot be called righteous when you have hypocrisy and lawlessness in you. Luke 8:15 says that the man who hears the Word and keeps it (i.e. the righteous), has a good and honest heart.

The Old Testament says repeatedly that the Lord loves uprightness and integrity of heart. In Luke 18:2 in the parable of the unjust judge, the judge did not respect man and did not fear God. Righteousness is to fear God. Job in Job 1:1,8, 2:3 was perfect and upright, who feared God and eschewed evil. Proverbs 16:6 says "by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil” and in Proverbs 8:13 we are given a definition of the fear of God "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate”. The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom (Proverbs 1:7, 9:10). Psalms, Proverbs and Job perfectly describe who is righteous and who is wicked or foolish in the eyes of God.

Let’s see whom God loves according to the New Testament. It is precisely with this subject that Jesus begins the famous sermon on the mount in Matthew 5:2-12. Blessed are the poor in spirit (that is, the simple people), the meek, the peacemakers, the merciful, the pure in heart, and those who are hungry and thirsty for justice. He assured that these are the people who are saved and go to heaven, without making any mention of faith in God or himself. If you are these things, then you are a child of God even if you have not heard him, even if you have not read the Bible, even if you have not confessed Jesus Christ who rose from the dead as your Savior. Jesus continues in Matthew 5:10-12 saying that blessed is he who is persecuted and accused for his sake. Jesus here presents himself as righteousness and not as Jesus Christ, the Son of God (To be precise the words Jesus spoke were of his Father, and did not testify about himself. He was criticized by the Pharisees for self-righteousness in John 5:31,32, 8:13-18). He was not necessarily talking about religious persecution but about the reaction of the world that loves the works of the devil against the people who are bearers of truth and justice, and they are light in the world.

God loves the man who loves God or otherwise, who keeps His commandments (John 14:15,21,23, 16:27.) 2 John 1:6 says “And this is love, that we walk after his commandments.” I remind that he who loves God is saved (James 1:12, 2:5). The same is repeated in 1 John 5:2-3. In Acts 10:35, Peter said "But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.”

From Pentecost onwards, God gave the Holy Spirit to those who were obedient and not to those who believed in Jesus Christ (Acts 5:12). In Acts 15:8 he adds that God, the knower of hearts, gave the Holy Spirit. If everyone who believed in Jesus received the Holy Spirit, what role would the knowledge of hearts play? Jesus, with the exception of Judas, chose his disciples by looking at their hearts. When he saw Nathanael, he said “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" (John 1:47).

In John 9:31 he says "Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth”. It is about a worshipper in the heart and not in the mouth. God's will for man, as we see, is to keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:3). I emphasize again that the most complete answer to the question "who is saved", is the beatitudes of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:2-10) because it is the man who is full of God's love, truth, justice and peace. He doesn’t need to confess Jesus Christ as his savior, because he has already confessed him in his heart, he does not need to know him with rigorous "Christian" activities or by seeking refuge in churches and monasteries because he has already known him in his heart. He does not need to adore him with his mouth because he already adores him unceasingly in his heart. He is the upright, honest, righteous man who fears God, refrains from evil, and has mercy towards his neighbor, even the last stranger in the society.

There is no doubt that when you believe in Jesus Christ you are saved (John 3:15,18,36 5:24, 6:40,47, 20:31), and to feel assured, if you confess Jesus Christ as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you are saved. It is salvation without other conditions and presuppositions. All men are forgiven when they believe in Jesus.

But the story does not end here and the New Testament has to be carefully studied as a whole. Man is justified by faith. “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” (Romans 3:28). It is one of the main subjects in the epistle to the Romans (3:21-31, chapters 4, 5). Protestantism has made a dangerous distortion of the message of the Bible, defining the righteous as the man who believes or professes faith in Jesus Christ. They send the message that the righteous are the believers. The epistle to the Romans describes that the sinner, under the burden of Adam's inherited sin, is justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Righteousness is given to man through the blood of Jesus Christ and he passes from death to eternal life. It does not say that the wicked are made righteous with faith in Jesus, but that the sinner is justified. They are two completely different subjects even though the same word is used, righteousness and its derivatives. God presents two subjects by using the same word, that is, righteousness. When the issue is the redeeming work of Jesus on the cross then righteousness is freedom from sin. When he refers to the righteous man in the Old and New Testaments, and the righteousness for which the blessed man is hungry and thirsty for, it is righteousness in the literary sense of the word as the dictionaries define it, and as everybody understands it. It is about behaving in a morally correct way. The opposite of the first righteousness is sin, and the opposite of righteousness by common usage is wickedness, iniquity, and disrespect. The first righteousness is obtained by repentance of sins and faith in Jesus Christ. One way in which the second righteousness is achieved is with discipline, directly from God (Hebrews 11:12) or to the children from the parents (Proverbs 13:24, 19:18). In Christ, man also becomes righteous with knowledge and with the sanctification of the Holy Spirit.

Faith in Jesus saves, but the second epistle of Peter reveals other interesting things. In 2 Peter 1:3-10, Peter tells the believers what to do to ensure their salvation or as he puts it "give diligence to make your calling and election sure”. In 1:9 “But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins”. Here he affirms that every man who believes in the resurrected Jesus Christ is forgiven and cleansed from his sins without conditions. But when he disregards the path of righteousness and turns into apostasy, and continues in wickedness, then he will lose the salvation he won before (2 Peter 1:9, 2:15,21).

In the parable of the wedding in Matthew 22:1-14, the man who didn’t have a wedding garment, went to the wedding and succeeded in sitting at the king's table. He was cast in “into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The man who believed in the king Jesus Christ was given righteousness by the forgiveness of sins, but he did not walk in the way of righteousness and did not wear the garment of righteousness.

When in Matthew 7:22,23 believers told Jesus "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?" and Jesus told them he never knew them, they were faithful people who believed in Jesus, their sins were forgiven and they were saved, but they lost their salvation because they continued to walk on the path of iniquity, even though they continued to believe that they are Christians and that they served Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t know people of iniquity but only the righteous, that's why he gave the relevant answer. Let us recall that the second Peter's epistle which I quoted above is an attack against false Christianity, against Christians in name only. In the same incident with the people who said Lord, Lord, the answer is given to the question which faith saves. Jesus says that he who does the will of his Father in heaven enters the kingdom of God (Matthew 7:21,24). Many verses reveal that in order to gain eternal life it is not enough only to believe in God, but to do his will, to keep his Word, and to keep his commandments (Matthew 7:21,24, 12:50, 19:17, 25:31-46, Luke 6:46-49, 11:28, John 8:51,52, 14:23,24, 15:10,14, 17:6). I will present only John 8:51,52 which says it very clearly: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.”

Particular attention should be paid to Matthew 25:31-46 where Jesus on the day of judgment separates between sheep and goats, the righteous and the wicked. The sole criterion is mercy to the neighbor, that is, the second great commandment. Man is judged according to mercy or its absence. Jesus sends the goats to the everlasting fire and gives the kingdom of the Father to the sheep. In Matthew 13:41,49 it is reminded that the righteous will be saved and the disrespectful will perish. Acts 26:20 says that man must repent and turn to God to do works worthy of repentance.

In Acts 5:32 it appears that the Holy Spirit dwells in those who obey and not simply believe. If someone believes in Jesus and resists the Holy Spirit, how will he gain eternal life since the Holy Spirit is eternal life? Jude 1:19 says about Christians (of apostasy) who do not have the Spirit. 2 John 1:9 says that whoever does not dwell in the doctrine of Christ, has not God, neither the Father, nor the Son, and certainly not their Spirit.

The devil, using false Christianity as a vehicle, has succeeded in convincing people that breaking the law that sends you to hell is fornication, homosexuality, abortions, smoking and the like. They are of course manifestations of the flesh that God hates but they are nowhere near the gross transgressions of the law that the devil and his agents on earth do not want people to know about.

Sometimes the devil deceives by presenting as serious sins activities that are in actual fact abstinence from sin, such as practicing a religious life, or the exit of believers from Babylon, that is, false Christianity. The keys to understanding the law and obeying the law are the two great commandments that fulfill all the law.

On at least two occasions, Jesus enlightens us more about the true meaning of the two commandments, which he says are the great commandments. In Matthew 23:23 he criticized the Pharisees for tithing but leaving the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith. Judgment is best understood when we add fair judgment. In Luke 11:42 he says that the weightier matters of the law are judgement and the love of God. By faith he means the fear of God in the sense of conscientiousness. So judgment and faith, in the sense of love of justice and fear of God are included in the obedience of the first great commandment "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” Mercy, which is the manifestation of God's love to the neighbor, is nothing but the observance of the second great commandment.

The transgression of the two great commandments as presented by Jesus in Matthew 23:23 and Luke 11:42, is seen in the parable of the unfair judge "which feared not God, neither regarded man” (Luke18:1-8). I repeat Matthew 25:35,36 which says that the essence of the Christian life is to give food to the hungry, to give water to the thirsty, to welcome the stranger, to clothe the naked, to visit the sick. In other words, not to think only of yourself and your family, but to respect each person, to love your neighbor as yourself. The violation of the second commandment is very common. It is to desire and pursue your own happiness, with indifference to the happiness of other people, whether they are people in your neighborhood, or people outside your country.

Let us see how people in the New Testament interpreted the law and obedience to the law. In the same way obedience to God is misinterpreted by Christianity today. In Matthew 23:23 the Pharisees thought they were obeying God by tithing their income, with Jesus adding in Matthew 23:24 "You blind guides who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel". In the parable of the publican and the Pharisee (Luke 18:9-14), the Pharisee abstained from extortion, injustice, fornication and theft while pointing to the publican as sinner. He also fasted twice a week and diligently gave tithes from his possessions. If attention is paid to the words of his prayer to God, he was breaking the two great commandments. He was self-righteous. He boasted before God, giving glory to himself, and furthermore he disrespected the publican who was in the same place and truly repented of his sins. The Pharisees turned empty ritualistic life into law, with the impression they pleased God. Examples are their diligent observance of the Sabbath and their tradition of washing their hands before eating bread (Matthew 15:2, Mark 7:5).

Another man who misinterpreted the law is the brother of the prodigal son in Jesus' parable (Luke 15:11-32) The brother of the prodigal son is a type of Christian who did not enjoy his life because he came under the shackles of legalism, thinking that it is the kind of obedience that pleases God. Legalism results in sorrow and depression of the soul. God gave life to people and especially to his children to enjoy it and be happy now, and not after their death. Joy and peace are the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit cannot work in the soul of a believer who has decided to come under the shackles of the law, in the wrong way he perceives it. Being born of Spirit and water brings the believer into the kingdom of God where happiness and enjoyment of life is beyond imagination. Then the believer is full of the Holy Spirit which produces its fruit in his soul to the greatest extent. (Galatians 5:22,23). God's material blessings complete his happiness.

This was not understood by the brother of the prodigal son when his Father, a type of God, answered him "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine". Symbolically they are spiritual and not material blessings that rightfully belonged to him as a Christian but he did not allow them in his life because he did not understand the gospel, and took the wrong path spiritually. For his part, the prodigal son is a type of believer who did not fall into the trap of legalism, he knew that there is freedom in Christ through his Spirit, but he turned the freedom he enjoyed into free will. He thought that his faith in God gave him the right to do what his soul desired (not what his flesh desired). He did what was right in his own eyes, not knowing that God probably had other plans for him that did not coincide with his own. His life became difficult, he realized his mistake and returned to his Father.

Thus in the parable, two wrong directions taken by believers are described. One brother comes under the shackles of religion and the other exercises free will and not the will of the Father. The sin of the prodigal son often occurs in the service of the Lord. The believer has a wrong perception of what is the service that pleases the Lord, perhaps considering evangelism, active participation in a church, charity events, etc. again losing the meaning of Christianity. Christianity is not a transition to a religious life of worship, ceremonies, meetings, and evangelism and endless Bible studies. In the Bible you find the material to know God, to free your soul from the shackles of the devil, to walk on the path of righteousness, and to enter his kingdom. The essence of Christianity is to love truth and justice and to respect your neighbor.

The father of the parable represents the Father in heaven, and both his sons are true believers. The parable is not interpreted to mean that the believer turned his back on God to live in carnal pleasures, because before he left his father's house, he asked him for his share of the goods that belonged to him. Goods do not symbolize material blessings, but spiritual. They symbolize the wisdom, gifts and talents that the believer possesses through the grace of God, but in this particular case the believer utilizes them in a way that he himself thinks is a service to the Lord, but he is acting outside the will of God.

The decisive factor for the members of Christ's church to produce fruit in their spiritual mission, is to carry out the instructions of the head of the church, Jesus Christ, and not to do what seems right in their eyes. The prodigal son is the believer who wanted to serve his father according to his own intelligence and will, squandering his gifts and abilities without achieving anything. The error of the prodigal son is defined by Jesus in a verse, John 15:5 "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing”. The prodigal son saw that he could do nothing and then turned to his father who said "for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found” (Luke 15:32). Let us recall that the lost sheep is the believer who took the wrong spiritual path and grazed in a pasture without food, without the Word of God. If the believer feeds on tares and not wheat, with human teachings and not the Word of God, then he is spiritually dead and does not have the life of the Holy Spirit within him.

Christianity made the mistake of making the letter of the book a way of life, rather than making the divine nature a way of life. People only need to have a deeper look at the messages behind the letter. A theoretical example is when three believers gather for many years and break bread. They do it in remembrance that they are members of God's body, the church, and not each one is the church by themselves. The are also reminded that Jesus is the head of the church. If all these years they have digested the message, they need not to break bread anymore, as long as there are no new believers among them.

The “works” that accompany faith have been misinterpreted even more than the subject of the law. Those who stood before Jesus and said to him "Lord, Lord" and then perished, considered that works are to prophesy, cast out demons and work miracles (Matthew 7:21-23). In Luke 13:26 the following is added: "We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.” Teaching means they heard "Christian" sermons. Eating and drinking in his presence almost certainly means taking bread and wine in the congregation. I consider another possibility but very distant, that they were praying to God to bless the food they were eating. Here Jesus also makes an allusion to the false teaching of many denominations, the "presence" of Jesus during the taking of bread and wine.

In this incident, five common opinions of the believers who will be judged by God are indicated, and all five are wrong. The prophecies they made were not from God but it was evil spirits who pretended to be God speaking. They never really cast out demons. The demons pretended to come out of the sufferers, after their commands and exorcisms. Only in the kingdom of God you have authority to command demons to come out of man, and the demons will obey you. Those particular believers never entered the kingdom of God. In false Christianity you don't even have a chance to do that. The healing miracles they performed were again done by the devil imitating God. Concerning the taking of bread and wine they adopted the common belief that Jesus Christ is present during the ceremony either literally in the bread and wine or spiritually. Jesus is present in the true believer and the true church regardless of the practicing of the ceremony that symbolizes other things. They thought that the sermons they heard were the Word of God and yet, they were nothing more than the teachings of men who had nothing to do with the gospel of truth.

In both passages Jesus called them workers of iniquity. In Luke 18:12, the praying Pharisee said that he fasted twice a week and paid tithes, and evidently considered them good works. A typical misconception of work is evangelism, the perceived duty to start talking about Jesus and making converts, to save souls. This is what the Pharisees did, who traveled by sea and land to make a convert, in Matthew 23:15. In Matthew 16:26, Mark 8:36, Luke 9:25, Jesus says "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

Caring for the poor is often done with the wrong motives by ministries and churches that fall under the category of Christianity. This is the reason why Jesus gave the relevant answer. (Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9, John 12:1-8). Jesus said “For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always” (Matthew 26:11, Mark 14:4, John 12:8). Martha did the wrong works to Jesus in Luke 10:38-42 when Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus and listened to his word.

Martha symbolizes the believer who does religious Christian work to honor Jesus, while Mary enjoyed Jesus himself in her life, as truth and righteousness and life. The seed of the Word fell on good soil in her heart producing spiritual fruits. Jesus answered "And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41,42). Luke 8:2,3 says about women who served Jesus, with their substance. Their ministry was not to go to the cities to preach his kingdom, after all his disciples didn’t go on their own initiative, the Lord sent them. The women served Jesus in accordance with these verses "For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink” (Matthew 25:35,36).

Martha represented the false gospel upon which most of Christianity is built, wanting to do sacrificial works for Jesus Christ. Mary represents the right gospel, wanting the Father in heaven (whose words came from the mouth of Jesus) to make her light in the world, and salt of the earth. The so-called Christianity today is a religion, and a wrong one, because as I mentioned Jesus Christ did not come to modify people's lives to include worship, praise, fasting, ceremonies, hierarchies and Sunday gatherings in church buildings. Jesus Christ came to change people's souls by giving them the opportunity through the work of the Holy Spirit to be freed from the wicked world and enjoy his kingdom, walking unimpeded in the path of righteousness and sealing their salvation that they had received when they believed for first time in Jesus Christ. “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). Churches play a role, but not by becoming a center of Christian life. Their role is to help the believers grow in the knowledge of God and help them with their needs. Prophet Daniel’s church so to speak, was his house where he prayed alone. He didn’t devote himself to evangelism and he performed his duties in the Babylonian empire.

The works that must accompany a person's faith in order to be saved have nothing to do with ministry in a church or with a religious activity aimed at becoming more acceptable to the Lord.

Then what works does the Bible speak of? Their definition is given in John 6:28,29 :”Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.“ It may seem strange that James 2:17,20,26 says that faith without works is dead, and John 6:29 says that work is to believe in Jesus “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” What it means is to love God, and as works it refers to the two great commandments of the Lord. John 6:29 can be compared to 1 John 3:23. “And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.” Jesus also said to his disciples "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12).  Acts 26:20 says that people must repent and turn to God and do works worthy of repentance. This means you are called not to sin, to be a righteous and upright man. Jesus said to the man with infirmity that he healed (John 5:14) and to the adulteress (John 8:11) “sin no more”. John 8:39 says about the works of Abraham you have to do. Abraham was not healing people, was not liberating people from demons, he did not evangelize and did not give his property to the poor, on the contrary he accumulated great wealth. Previously Jesus said "Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (John 8:34), so ​​the opposite is also true, whoever doesn’t sin is a servant of justice. This is real service to the Lord, and not some church ministry. In John 8:41 Jesus told the Pharisees "Ye do the deeds of your father” meaning the devil. In John 8:44 he explains these works "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

The works of the devil are in violation of the two great commandments. Truth is God, therefore if you love God, you love the truth and not the lie. It is again confirmed that the works have to do with character, whether a man is honest, just, respectful and upright, or disrespectful, a liar, a hypocrite, and a deceiver. These are the works of God and the works of the devil, the character in the normal life of man, and not some literal service to God or to the devil. The devil did not come to the Pharisees in human form to teach them and instruct them what to do. The Pharisees, who believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, loved the world, the manifestations of the flesh and lived in sin, that is why spiritually they were children of the devil.

In terms of the Christian spiritual path, Jesus asks for one thing and nothing more, and it is mentioned in John 6:35,47-58. He says that it is the bread of life that is symbolized by the manna that fell in the wilderness, and whoever eats it, he will have eternal life. The manna and the bread is the Word of God and it is the revealed Word and not the letter of the Bible. When the believer proceeds after his repentance to know God through the study of the Bible, then he will have eternal life. The goal of the believer is to read the Bible and understand it and put it into practice in his life. This is the eating of the bread or the manna and this is the real faith in Jesus that saves (John 6:29,40,47). If you love God and do his will by refraining from evil, then you eat Jesus' flesh (bread) and drink his blood (wine) and have eternal life. Jesus on the day of judgment will not look at the symbol, if you took bread and wine at the assembly. He will look at the deed, if you walked in the commandments of the Lord, in the way of righteousness.

In Matthew 13:23 and Mark 4:20 it is stated what happens when the believer receives the Word of God (the bread) "But he that received seed into the good ground (of the heart) is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” The hearing of the Word is the spiritual hearing, and I stress that it is not enough to read the Word but to understand it. If the believer loves God and allows him to work in his soul, then the Word will produce fruit. It is referred to as the fruit of righteousness based on the outcome, and the fruit of the Holy Spirit, based on the source.

Matthew 12:33 mentions what tree and what fruit you will produce depending on which God or god you love and let work in your soul. “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.” In John 6:63 Jesus says "the words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life," showing how he works. When the believer accepts the Word, meaning, loves God and allows him to work in him, then the Holy Spirit works in his soul and transforms it for the better, cleansing from sins and producing fruit.

Ephesians 5:9 declares the nature of God manifested in man through the work of the Holy Spirit: “For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth". The results of this work are widely reported in the Bible, but I will quote passages where the features of the character of the righteous are concentrated. The well-known passage Galatians 5:22,23 says "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” When man is righteous, having a good character, then he obeys the law spontaneously without effort and walks in the spirit without the danger of falling, since the love of God is his nature within him (1 Timothy 1:9, Galatians 5:23-25). You reach the perfect degree of righteousness by killing the flesh, being born with the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:24).

According to 1 Timothy 6:11, the fruit of the Spirit is righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. In 2 Timothy 2:22-25 it is righteousness, faith, love, peace, gentleness, patience and meekness. Philippians 4:8 instructs to pursue truth, honesty, justice, purity, love, good report, virtue and honor. In James 3:17 the wisdom of God that expresses His nature, is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” James 3:13 says about the meekness of wisdom. This is the wisdom man must seek and not the earthly, sensual, devilish (James 3:15).

All of the above is the will of the Lord, keeping the Lord's commandments, obeying the Lord. These are the works and service to God. These things save you and please the Lord, and not Sunday worship in the church, and endless prayers and fasting, neither the taking of bread and wine, nor water baptism, or other church sacraments. The wrong mentality about the Christian life and works that please the Lord is called "sacrifices" and God says "I will have mercy (to neighbor), and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matthew 9:13). Jesus leaves the message that when you are righteous or when you become righteous (really and not just on the surface) then the mission is accomplished because you have eternal life. The believer does not need to confess Jesus Christ as his savior, because he already believes in Jesus Christ in his heart. He already has the love of God in him. He believes in justice and truth and loves the peace of the soul.

The scribe told Jesus “there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” (Mark 12:32-33). Jesus told him that he was not far from the kingdom of God, meaning that he had a real knowledge of God and understood the meaning of the gospel. He had eaten the manna of the desert, the Word of God, and he was outside the promised land, the kingdom of God, waiting for God to bring him in.

Abel expressed his love to God by drinking the blood of Jesus Christ that forgives sins. This is allegorically expressed by the blood sacrifice he made. Cain was trying to please God with sacrifices, while hating his brother. He killed his brother and in John 8:34-49 we are reminded that the devil was a murderer from the beginning and that men like Cain serve sin, have no truth in them, and have the devil as their father. Their faith in the true God is not enough to save them, it is not real faith.

Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to the Word, because she loved Jesus, and she loved everything that Jesus was, and she wanted the fruit of righteousness to be produced in her soul, to be like him. (Luke 10:38-42).

Mary's behavior is expressed in another way, with the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with tears, wiped them with her hair, kissed his feet and anointed him with oil. Her sins were forgiven, not because she believed that Jesus is the Son of God, but because she loved much (Luke 8:47). Martha tried to please Jesus with literal service, with sacrifices. Martha was the woman who invited Jesus to her home, a symbol of the man who believes in Jesus and calls him into his heart as his Savior, but is walking the wrong spiritual path.

Romans 2:6 and 1 Peter 1:17 say that God will judge everyone according to his works, and in Matthew 25:31-46 it is shown what these works are: Be just and love your neighbor as yourself. These works will judge whether a man will be saved or lost, but it is not a criterion for the election and calling of men. God's grace, his plans and his purpose decide which man he will draw to him for salvation (2 Timothy 1:9, 2:10). God elects people according to his own choice; it is not man choosing God, so man does not need to worry about personal efforts to discover God. God is nearer to the elect than they can imagine. If there is a man in any corner of the earth, even in a traditionally non-Christian world, whose heart has no guile, like in the case of Nathanael (John 1:47), there is no way that God will be indifferent to him or to forget him. He knows the hearts of all men.

The fact that man can believe in Jesus, be saved, and then lose his salvation is shown in many passages in the New Testament. In the parable Matthew 24:45-51 the servant of Jesus who hates his brothers and loves the world is cast into everlasting punishment. He belongs to the category of hypocrites (Matthew 24:51). Outwardly they are righteous and inwardly full of hypocrisy and iniquity (Matthew 23:28). Another parable in Matthew 25:14-30 and Luke 19:12-27, describes servants of Jesus, including one that is “wicked and slothful servant”. He didn’t produce profit and is condemned to everlasting punishment. This man hated God (Matthew 25:24) and didn’t do works worthy of repentance. It is seen by his apathy, he did not produce profit.

In the previous parable of the ten virgins, the five foolish virgins were lost even though they symbolized believers in Jesus. They were typical in following rules of morality but they didn’t have the love of truth inside them. Jesus in Luke 14:25-35 describes a typical case of Christians who love the world and at the same time want God in their lives only where it benefits them. Jesus doesn’t want them as his disciples and they will perish. A similar message is given in Mark 9:43-50. In James 1:8,4:8 they are named double minded people. They deny the most important ministry of God, the sanctification of the heart, because they want to remain carnal (James 4:8). The Israelites were double minded when they had nostalgia for Egypt, a symbol of the world, and they did not want to enter the promised land, a symbol of the kingdom of God, and for that they were finding excuses. But God didn’t justify them, and they died in the desert, losing their souls as well. This class of believers is repeated in Revelation 3:15-18 when God speaks of the Laodicean church, and they are referred to as lukewarm believers.

In Matthew 24:39 and Luke 17:26-30, people will perish without expecting it, regardless of whether they are believers, because they loved the world. Luke 17:32 says "remember Lot's wife” (who looked behind her and became a pillar of salt). Lot's wife saw with sympathy the wicked world perishing in Sodom and she perished as well although God gave her a chance to be saved. In other incidents I have already mentioned, Jesus teaches about believers who seem surprised when they are judged with condemnation, having the impression that their religious works honored God. They were violating his great commandments.

Jesus in his teaching and the apostles in their epistles, warned of the emergence of imitation Christianity, ruled by the devil and not Jesus. Believers have gone astray, elect and not, mainly because they would expect the devil to concentrate his energies on preventing people from believing in Jesus Christ. The devil is not stupid. He did the exact opposite, concentrating all his energy for 20 centuries to convert the population of the earth to his own version of the gospel that not only doesn’t save, but you have a better chance of saving your soul when you stay outside of so-called Christianity, which is a destroyer of souls. The New Testament calls the representatives of false Christianity false Christs, false prophets and false teachers (Matthew 24:5,23,24, Mark 13:6,21,22, Luke 21:8, 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, 1 Timothy 6:3-5, 2 Timothy 4:3,4, Titus 1:10-16). 2 Peter 2 and Jude 1:4-19 make a special mention of false Christianity that will perish.

The reader can take a closer look at these chapters to see they refer to believers in Jesus and not unbelievers and atheists. Paul in Acts 20:29-31 warned the Christians of Ephesus about wolves that would enter among them. Jesus describes the goals of these wolves in John 1:10 saying that they are thieves and robbers who come to steal, kill and destroy. It goes without saying that the damage they cause is in spiritual matters, in the souls of believers, and not literal material damage. Let us recall the guest at the king's wedding, in Matthew 22:11 who did not wear a wedding garment and was cast into hell. He is a wicked type of Christian.

When Jesus exposed and criticized the Pharisees, he was foretelling the future for Christianity. The Pharisees were God's representatives in Israel but in reality, spiritually speaking, they served the devil in a war against God. It would make sense that the devil would apply to Christianity the same tactics he applied to Israel, with his servants who would say they serve God, and this is what he did. Jesus confirmed that the father of the Pharisees was the devil (John 8:44) and that they served sin (John 8:34).

Jesus began the description of the Pharisees with a phrase full of meaning "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat". In other words the sons of the devil assumed the role of God's representatives on earth. What one reads about the Pharisees in the New Testament, applies to the representatives of Christianity of all denominations, and for this educative reason there are so extensive references of them. Jesus' most elaborate attacks against the Pharisees are in Matthew 23, Luke 11:37-54, 20:46,47. In John 8:20-47,54,55, Jesus talks about Jews who say they believe in God, but when Jesus spoke to them they hated him and wanted to kill him. The extent of their corruption and hatred against God is shown in the next chapter 9. Instead of praising God, that Jesus healed the man born blind, they interrogated the man who had just been blessed, as if he was a criminal. Bible says about these alleged men of God “that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue” Christ was Jesus, whom God had promised in the Old Testament that he would send.

The attitude of the devil himself to appear as a Christianity is shown by the demons that Jesus cast out of the possessed man. Indicatively the demons cried out "Thou art Christ the Son of God". Let it be noted that in this particular case the demons were telling the truth. An incident that exposes the devil's mentality of appearing as Christianity and the gospel of salvation, is with the woman who had a python spirit, with some Bible translations having it wrongly as divination spirit. The spirit said about the apostles: These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation (Acts 16:17).

In Samaria, the people said of Simon the sorcerer, “This man is the great power of God" (Acts 8:10). He later attempted to imitate the apostles after his false conversion (Acts 8:9-25). In Christianity you are not what you say, and this is shown in the parable of the two sons (Matthew 21:28-32) The father told his sons to go to the vineyard. The first refused and then went and the second said he would but didn't. The second son is the type of believer who presents himself to people with spoken words showing he is obedient, but transgresses the will of God. For the Pharisees Jesus said "For they say and do not (do)” and "Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity" (Matthew 23:3,28).

The following words are from a prophet of the Lord: Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as the Lord shall speak unto me… Get you into your land: for the Lord refuseth to give me leave to go with you…. If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more… , I have sinned; for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me: now therefore, if it displease thee, I will get me back again…. Lo, I am come unto thee: have I now any power at all to say any thing? the word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak… Must I not take heed to speak that which the Lord hath put in my mouth?… Told not I thee, saying, All that the Lordspeaketh, that I must do?… If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord, to do either good or bad of mine own mind; but what the Lord saith, that will I speak? (Numbers 22:8,13,18,34,38, 23:12,26, 24:13)

From the piety of the words, anyone could be deceived that they were spoken by the prophet Isaiah or Jeremiah or Daniel or Elijah or Elisha and yet they are the words of someone who served Satan as his Lord. They are the words of false prophet Balaam who made persistent efforts to destroy the Lord's people, Israel. In Joshua 13:22, it is revealed what he really was, a soothsayer.

In the New Testament, the persecution of Christians in the name of God is foretold. Jesus says this directly in John 16:2. “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” God's representatives condemned Stephen to death with the charge of blaspheming Moses and God (Acts 6:9-15, 7:51-53). The high priests killed Jesus in the name of God.

In Matthew 21:38, Mark 12:7 and Luke 20:14, it is confirmed that the high priests who killed Jesus knew that he was the Son of God. High priest Caiaphas knew it as well (Matthew 26:63,64, Luke 22:70) The mentality of the believers who hate God, especially those who desire power and money in the church, is that they use God as a tool to achieve their own ends. Disrespectful and hypocritical Christians want to deceive the flock by presenting a God molded according to their desires and self-interest, they want themselves to be the creators of God and God to be a vessel in their hands to mold it as they wish. They are like children who sit in the markets (Matthew 11:16, Luke 7:32). The markets they sit in, are interpreted that they serve Mammon and not God (Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:11-13). They appear with the innocence of a child and they turn the assembly into celebration or they shed crocodile tears before God. They have turned the church into a den of thieves (Matthew 11:17, 21:13, Luke 19:46) and house of merchandise (John 2:16).

In the passages Matthew 11:16-19 and Luke 7:31-35, the representatives of God and type of future representatives of Christianity, don’t give teachings revealed by God according to the Spirit of the Bible, but they invent teachings often contradictory and absurd to suit their plans and strengthen their ministry in the eyes of the people. In the parable of the ten talents as written in Luke 19:12-27 the nobleman’s citizens hated him and did not want him to reign over them. It is the people that dwell on the earth and don’t want the light of justice, truth, peace and love to reign over them and want to live in darkness, loving the devil's vices. They want to be lords over God and decide their own personal version of justice, truth, peace and love that will increase their power, money, and glory and pleasures at the expense of their fellow citizens. Luke 19:27: “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.”