So Many People Did Not Believe -- and Neither Did I

It is amazing to many how many people in churches do not believe the Gospel:

"38Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." (Acts 13: 38-39)

I was raised to believe in the importance of keeping God's law, of loving others, that we have to do so that God can do in our lives.

Crazy!

I never understood verses like this one:

"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." (John 15: 5)

Jesus said: I am the vine. You are the branches.

Jesus did not say: "Try to be a branch."

He did not say: "Branch, you must stay in the vine."

Think about it: there would be no branch if there were no vine in the first place.

Jesus is first place, or he has no place in our lives.

This dynamic was difficult for me to understand, because I lived in a household where the law, the rules, and all the rest remained prominent.

My father placed the Ten Commandments on the wall. My mother lived by the Twelve Steps, which are twelve steps to destruction.

They suffered terribly, and so did I.

I  have since been learning about the deeper problem which man faces:

He is dead and needs life. Adam and Eve did not just become bad people -- they died, separated from God.

We were dead, but now we are alive in Jesus!

I did not believe this.

I did not understand the key importance of being justified.

Justification by faith is the whole element of the Gospel, and all too many want to do away with the legal implications of the Gospel, and reduce everything to subjective thoughts and feelings. There is no hope there. None.

We need an objective certainty which affirms that we are set free from all sin, regardless of how we feel or what we thing.

Objective, not subjective, a criteria outside of us, not something that we hope and believe on the inside.

In comes AA, and all the other man-centered cults which teach people to be . . .man-centered!

We are  justified from all things in Christ Jesus, and for many years I did not know or believe this wonderful truth.

I knew that Jesus died for my sins, but then again I was told that I had ot take my inventory to make sure that I never sinned again. I had to watch myself. Even though I knew I was going to heaven, earth was like a hell on earth, because I was still so desperately under law trying to earn God's favor.

There were ties when I was so depressed and hurt, frustrated with a sense of constant fear and demand, wondering about the future.

I never realized that this of painful demand and shame was really a product of AA.

My mother was an AA fanatic, and with that terrible cult prodding her along, she took my sister and me away from our father for ninth  months.

The depression never lifted or left me, until she threw me out of the apartment.

I never did anything wrong. I was just depressed, and she blamed me for being angry or upset. When I look over this litany of abuse, and now I understand the root cause of this found in AA, I have more peace than I ever had before.

The reason why I was so depressed -- I was trying to live up to a deadly standard which makes us spin in ever deeper.

AA is an evil cult, and it killed my mother. And I know that many people are out there in Christian circles convinced that they need to work Twelve Steps to live lives of holiness. Wrong.

Wrong.

Jesus could not have made it more clear:

"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6: 29)

The question then has less to do with what we need to do, and more to do with seeing Him who has been from the beginning (1 John 2:14)

In fact, those are the prayers of the early Christian leaders!

Paul's first prayer in the Epistles:

"8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. 9For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers; 10Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you." (Romans 1: 8-10)

and

6That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." (Ephesians 3: 16-19)


But also:

"1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3: 1-4)

and

"That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus." (Philemon 1: 6)

And who can forget:

"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." (3 John 2)


There is so much for us to believe and receive because of Christ and Him Crucified.

I want to believe, Lord Jesus, and thank you for helping my unbelief!