(By Ray Gano) I have been asked a number of times why we are coming back. Well, to put it simply, God is calling us back. Now, I have to admit that I have asked God why is he doing this and I keep getting this message that is something like “There is a war to be fought and I need you here in the battle.”
Over and over again the phrase “Start Pushing Back” goes through my mind.
I believe in my heart of hearts that with the election of Donald Trump we have a chance to put America back on the right path. But it isn’t going to be Trump alone that will do that. If we want America to be good again, we are going to have to help make America great again. That means that we need to get into the battle and start fighting.
Liberals, progressives, democrats, etc… these are not our friends, they do not like, love or care for us. We do not need to be reaching out to them to console, make nice or compromise. Our nation is where it is today because these people have come very close to utterly destroying it.
We need to keep that at the forefront of our mind.
Most of these people are pure reprobates, and they are enemies of God.
That means that they are our enemies as well and that means no compromise, no mercy, no quarter.
But how can we tell who is who?
And this is what I want to tackle today in this issue.
Saved, C.I.N.Os, Unsaved and Reprobates
The Good – The Bad & The Ugly
Saved – a person who has submitted fully to our Lord Jesus Christ and trusts Him as their personal savior. Through this they have been transformed into the “new man” and have become a Child of God.
C.I.N.Os – This is a phrase I coined about 5 – 6 years ago. Simply put, a Christian In Name Only.
Unsaved – People who do not know Christ as their personal Savior. They can be leaning one way towards God and His ways, but also be leaning towards Satan and his ways. These are the people that we should try to reach out to. BUT… we need to be very discerning with these people so that we will recognize wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Reprobate – The reprobate wants no real knowledge of God. In fact, they hate God, Hate Jesus Christ, and hate the Children of God, which is us. They want nothing to do with any of the above and if asked, they would probably agree to having us all exterminated.
Romans 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Instead of living a holy and acceptable life unto the Father which in turn brings about good works, their lifestyle manifests the following.
Romans 1:29-31 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Think about this for a moment. Could a saved person, washed in the blood of Christ, be a hater of God? Do the saints invent evil things? Do their lives manifest the above which Paul describe?
No.
Here are the traits of saved people.
- Saved people are new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17)
- They have repented of their sinful life (1 Thessalonians 1:9)
- They bring forth the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23 )
- They desire to do good works (Ephesians 2:10)
- They love the brethren (1 John 3:14)
- They keep themselves unspotted from the world (James 1:27)
- AND… saved people fall short, but they will confess their sins to maintain a relationship / fellowship with God. (1 John 1:9)
Reprobates are without understanding. In Romans we see that the reprobate knows full well the judgment of God is upon those who do these things, (see above – Romans 1:29-31 ) yet they continue to do them.
BUT, not only do they blatantly sin against God, but “they have pleasure in them that do them.”
Romans 1:32 who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
In fact, this idea is also spoken about in Isaiah 5.
Isaiah 5:18 – 19 – Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
19 that say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!
Here we see the reprobate pulling their sins into the streets and proudly parading them around. They shout at God saying “HEY GOD – let’s see your judgment against us so that we know it.”
Think of those Sodomite / “Gay” parades flaunting their disgusting behavior in public.
The reprobate is knowledgeable of God and of their judgment. They have chosen to distance themselves and knowing all this, they still reject God.
Can a Christian Be Turned Over To a Reprobate Mind?
I get asked this a lot and I must say that it is a good question. We all probably know someone who seemed to have fallen away from God and never desire to go back.
One thing that seems to trouble many believers is… “Can they fall into sin so badly that they fall away from God and be “turned over to a reprobate mind”?
The potential seems to great when someone who once professed to be saved falls away from the faith.
Those of us who are truly saved realize how weak and sinful we are. Sitting here right now I know that I have sinned and I hate that.
BUT, we also need to realize how great the grace of God is.
Let’s look at the word reprobate for just a second.
The primary meaning of the word reprobate means to be “rejected.”
Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines it as “not enduring proof or trial; not of standard purity or fineness; disallowed; rejected.”
This is also a Bible definition found in the verse you quoted:
Jeremiah 6:30 Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.
Silver that was unable to be refined was considered worthless, i.e., reprobate, and was naturally rejected.
But rejection is only part of the definition.
We read in Romans 1:28 that “God gave …over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.”
Here we can see that the meaning is not that of rejection but worse, abandonment.
These people had gone so far in sin, “they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,” and so God gave them what they wanted. They did not want God, His righteousness, His holiness, His cleanness, or His purity, so God “gave them over.”
These people are reprobate because of their hatred toward God. Because of their freewill choice to hate God so much they are rejected by God and abandoned.
There is a HUGE chasm between the reprobate and the truly saved child of God.
Saved, C.I.N.Os /Unsaved and Reprobates
Christians In Name Only these are people that I truly pity. These are the people that I hope that my work and ministry reach and break through those “scales upon their eyes.”
See C.I.N.Os are people who have been “inoculated.” They believe that because they go to church, raised their hand, do good works, so forth and so on that they are going to heaven. They base their salvation more on what they do vs what God has done for them. They honestly think they are saved and that is the danger. It is also very hard to tell these people that they are not saved.
Scripture says…
Matthew 7 : 21-23 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, 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?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
The more I read the Bible, the more I see the distinction between true believers and those who only profess to be.
Titus 1:16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
Paul says these people, who professed they knew God, were reprobate. How can this be? We get the answer in prior verse 15
Titus 1:15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
We can see that the “they” of verse 16 are described in this verse 15 as “unbelieving.”
Yes, they professed to know God, but they were reprobate. Why were they reprobated? Because they did not believe and put their trust in Him. They did not submit their lives to Christ as their personal savior. They believe that it is their good works that gain them heaven.
As hard as this may sound, this is a form of rejecting Christ and His work on the cross.
These people (C.I.N.Os) were never saved.
We can see another example of this in 1 John 2
1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
Those who left and were “not of us” like it or not, they were never saved. Now this teaching lines up with the words of our Lord himself.
Consider the following
John 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Notice what Christ himself states, that those who continue in the word of Christ (i.e., those who are truly converted to God through repentance and faith) are Christ’s disciples indeed.
So, logic dictates that those who do not continue in His Word are not his disciples.
Just to clarify, what is being stated here is not describing the person who reads the bible everyday. There are people who are not saved that read the bible every day.
What scripture is describing is living the life according to God’s Word. Just because a person reads the bible everyday does not mean that they understand.
Scripture tells us the following…
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Even though the C.I.N.O reads their bible daily, they do not fully grasp what God’s Word is teaching them because they do not have the Holy Spirit “illuminating” or teaching them God’s Word.
To the natural man it is just “Blah blah… blah blah blah”
Sure, they read words, but they cannot comprehend that The Word is saying because they do not have the ability to spiritually discern His Word.
This means that a HUGE number of people who have made an intellectual or emotional “decision” and eventually these people will fall away. Why? They were never truly born again in the first place.
Since Christians continue in God’s word, they could never be turned over to a reprobate mind. A believer may get to the point where his faith is weak or fall into sin and, consequently, go so far as to forget “that he was purged from his old sins” (2 Peter 1:9), but he or she could never be rejected or abandoned by God.
Here is a great promise that is given to us and also does away with the whole idea of “losing one’s salvation.”
God’s Word states…
2 Timothy 2:13 if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
That means that even those of us who question our faith and possibly fall into a prodigal son life, God is faithful and HE will not lose us. Why? Because He gave that PROMISE and gift of salvation, He abideth faithful because God can not lie nor deny Himself or the promises He has given to us in God’s Word.
In John 6:37 we read these comforting words…
John 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”
The Lord Jesus has PROMISED that he will not cast out – not reject – anyone who comes to him.
This blessed assurance from the lips of the Savior himself leaves out any possibility of reprobation.
Here are the lyrics to that great song reminding us of His Blessed Assurance…
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels, descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
Here is another promise, Christ says to those who are saved “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5).
It should be a great blessing to know that those of us who have truly submitted our lives to Christ and trust Him for our eternal salvation will never be rejected or abandoned by God.
In Nahum there is we are told The Lord “knoweth them that trust in him,”
Scripture says…
Nahum 1:7 The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
You can be assured they will never be reprobated.
Pity and Try To Reach The C.I.N.O / Unsaved– The Reprobate Is An Enemy of God
I pity the C.I.N.O / Unsaved and I hope that if one is reading this article that the Holy Spirit will prick their heart and open their eyes to their error. They are on the path of the reprobate, if they are not there already. But as for the true reprobate, another things happens, they are no longer cherished, in fact they become the enemy of God and as hard as it seems, we need to look at them in that manner.
The reprobate would do everything in their power to destroy God. We clearly see this taking place today.
This is why we need to stand up and say no more to these enemies of God. They were winning the war because so many have become complacent.
We Have Been Given A Second Chance – Start Pushing Back
No where in scripture are we as God’s people told to have mercy on the enemies of God. In fact, we see in scripture many examples where God told Israel to be ruthless.
We are at war and we need to fully understand that.
Our enemies know it clearly and right now, they do have the upper hand.
God Is Raising Up The Servant Warriors
I honestly believe that God is calling men and women to be real warriors for Him. I call these people “Servant Warriors.”
We have a voice and we can take action. That is what we need to start doing again so that we do not waste this chance that God has given us.
For example, Kelloggs, the breakfast cereal company has pulled all its advertising from Breitbart.com.
From Breitbart News…
Kellogg’s announced on Tuesday its decision to pull ads from conservative media giant Breitbart.com because its 45 million monthly readers are not “aligned with our values as a company.”
Breitbart news is the largest platform for pro-family content anywhere on the Internet. We advocate for traditional American values, perhaps most important among them is freedom of speech. For Kellogg’s, an iconic American brand, to blacklist Breitbart News in order to placate left-wing totalitarians is a disgraceful act of cowardice. They insult our incredibly diverse staff and spit in the face of our 45,000,000 highly engaged, highly perceptive, highly loyal readers, many of whom are Kellogg’s customers. Boycotting mainstream American ideas is an act of discrimination and intense prejudice. If you serve Kellogg’s products to your family, you are serving up bigotry at your breakfast table.
Source – http://www.breitbart.com/dumpkelloggs/ <<< Go There And Be A Voice
The battle is spiritual and we need to understand that. But something happened a number of years ago; the battle poured over into the physical and it has totally caught the body of Christ off guard.
Instead of being on the defensive and pushing back then, we became reactionary out of fear and kowtowed to the enemies of God.
We did not know what to do because no one taught this generation how to fight back. So being the sheep that we are and instead of fighting like we should have, we submitted to these enemies of God thinking that was the right thing to do.
We were fed a plethora of lies and we gladly believed them.
“Oh.. we need to be tolerant…”
“We need to love everyone…”
“We need to accept people as they are because that is how God made them…”
And the lies continue and we let our nation slide down the dark slippery slope.
Because we were weak, and still are in many cases, we believed these lies instead of taking them head on and pushing the lies back into the darkness.
This is why I believe that God is raising up the Servant Warrior.
It is time to literally stand up and start pushing back.
Dawn your armor and get onto the battlefield. The reprobates are starting to lose and we have a chance to gain the high ground again.
Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
What is the answer?
We need to get on that battlefield and….Start Pushing Back