Because of the popularity of the so-called Faith Movement and its broad acceptance, it is hard to see the truth for what it is and state that the followers of Kenneth Hagin Sr. and his doctrine "that Jesus did not pay for our sins on the cross, but in hell, after Jesus had died spiritually and lost his divinity," is nothing but blasphemy. Mrs. Knie is correct, the people who cling to the doctrine of "Jesus Died Spiritually" (JDS) cannot and are not born again believers in the Jesus of the Bible, but disciples of a different Jesus, just like the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses.  ¹

The tragedy is that many born again Christians are attracted to the Faith Movement due to their teaching of financial prosperity and spiritual power. Hagin and his "apostles" have become "wise" over the years; they do not openly teach the JDS doctrine, but bring it in later, once a person has been snared into their movement. They use the same line as the Mormons, "do not cast your pearls before swine," therefore the so-called "deep teaching" is saved for a later time when a person is tied to the organization and has become spiritually blinded.

Let us first find out what Jesus said. In the Gospel of John, chapter 3, verses 1-16, Jesus states very clearly that a person must be born a second time. This is a spiritual birth which no man or organization can produce - John 1:12-13. To be born again a person must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He, as God, came and dwelt among men, He lived a sinless life on the earth, He was then killed by crucifixion on a cruel cross and raised up from the dead on the third day by God the Father. Before He was crucified, He was scourged [whipped, flogged] (Matthew 27:26) so that our diseases can be healed on earth (Isaiah 53:1-7; Matthew 8:14-17; I Peter 2:24). But it was on the cross that all sins from Adam and Eve to the last living human being on the earth were laid upon Him, and it was on the cross that He paid in full for our sins, by becoming sin in our stead and being punished by God the Father. Acts 4:7-13; Hebrews 9:1-28. When he gave up his life after three hours on the cross, Jesus stated clearly that His work was finished!

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. John 19:25-30

The Apostle Paul describes in detail what a person must believe and confess in order to be born again - Romans 10:1-17. Confession means repenting from sins, and this is clearly laid out in the Book of Acts, chapter 2:37-39 and repeated in Acts 3:19. The apostle Paul makes it very clear that all people living on the earth have sinned and are lost unless they repent and turn from their sins - Romans 3:1-31

The new birth, salvation from eternal punishment is not something man can work for, it is a gift from God, paid for by Jesus Christ on the cross - Ephesians 2:8-10.

As a result, the new believer in Christ submits himself to baptism by immersion in water and he will begin to do good works, not to be saved, but BECAUSE HE IS SAVED!

Any group or denomination calling themselves "Christians," but not having this biblical doctrine of salvation are not Christians, but heretics. There is no place in the Bible that states that a church or an organization can save a person from their sins; there are no dead persons (so-called saints) who can bring them salvation, and Mary (Maria) the mother of Jesus is not divine, she has no saving power AND ANYONE PRAYING TO HER IS COMMITTING THE SIN OF TALKING TO THE DEAD AND MAKING HER INTO A goddess! The old English word for a person who is communicating with the dead is "necromancer," and God has strongly stated that a necromancer is an abomination (hateful, disgusting thing to God).

When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. Deuteronomy 18:9-13

Every human being who has ever lived on the earth shall some day stand before God in judgment, and if he has not been born again, his name will not be written in the Book of Life. If your name is not written in the Book of Life, there is only one place for you to live for the rest of eternity and that is in The Lake of Fire where you will be tormented forever, day and night, with no end in sight. It will be an eternal damnation and torment. You might argue and disagree, but this is what is written in the Bible, the Word of God!

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:10-15

Read this warning from Jesus Himself:

Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 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. 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? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. Matthew 7:20-27

The apostles were not crowd pleasers, neither were they ecumenical and trying to bring all kinds of doctrine under one roof. Instead they warned over and over again, to reject those who were bringing in heresy, marking them and telling people who were the false teachers. The Apostles were not afraid of naming names and neither should we be. If a person is a heretic and is leading people to hell, he should be exposed and it should be told to anyone wanting to hear, in order to save people from eternal destruction. This is real love (agape)! Agreeing with everyone and trying to hold on to a coalition is spiritual suicide! Colossians 2:8; I Timothy 4:1-3; 6:3-5; Titus 3:9-11; II Peter 2:1-22; I John 4:1-3; II John 7-11; Jude 1-25.

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. Romans 16:17-18

The doctrine that says the Jewish people are going to be dealt with separately and that God has a special salvation plan for them is a doctrine WRITTEN BY THE DEVIL!

Any person who calls himself a Christian and believes this lie, promotes it and supports the ministries who teach it, is walking in darkness and with your money and doctrine you are sending Jews to hell. There is no place in the Bible where God tells his people to "drag the Jews to the political State of Israel." This is another lie from the Devil.

1. Acknowledge that you believe in God, the God of the Bible, also known as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. (Definition found in Exodus 3:6)

2. Acknowledge that because of the sins of Adam and Eve, all people born on the earth are born in sin and that all have come short of the glory of God and are in need of a Saviour. (Definition found in Romans 3:23)

3. Acknowledge that God so loved the people in the world, that he sent His only begotten Son to die on the cross and pay for our sins, in order that we might be forgiven and receive salvation. (Definition found in John 3:16)

4. Confess with your mouth that you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, born of a virgin, that Jesus lived a life on earth without sin, that He was crucified on Calvary, that on the cross He paid for the penalty of sin by shedding His blood for the redemption of man, that He rose from the grave on the third day, and that He today is seated in heavenly places with God the Father. (Definitions found in John 1:1-14; Luke 1:26-35; I Peter 2:21-23; Matthew 27:26-37; Hebrews 9:1-28; Luke 24:1-12; Revelation 1:10-20; Hebrews 1:1-5)

5. Be totally willing to confess your sins and then repent of them, by asking God to forgive you and cleanse you with the blood of Jesus. Repenting means that you are willing to turn from your sins, renounce them and resist the temptation to engage in them again. You are never going to be able to become sinless as long as you live in your physical body on the earth, but as you walk with Christ on a daily basis you will become less and less entangled with sin. (Definition found in I John 1:4-10)

If a married man commits adultery and then asks his wife to forgive him, because he is truly sorry for his action, in his mind he does not think that I will try my best not to have sex with other women again, he simply stops. He might be tempted, but that does not mean that he has to give in to the temptation.

6. Ask Jesus to become Lord of your life, and state that you are now surrendering to Him your life, your body, your soul and all that you are and say. (Definition found in Romans 10:1-9-11)

7. Start thanking God that He has heard your prayer for salvation; thank Him that it is a gift from Him, that you cannot work or earn it; praise Him that you now have been born again, that your dead spirit has now become alive and that you now have eternal life in Christ Jesus forever. (Definition found in Ephesians 2:1-10)

8. Seek out other Christians, who are truly born again and are using only the King James Bible and start to fellowship with them. Start sharing your faith in Christ with others, as often as an opportunity arrives. (Definitions found in Hebrews 10:19-25; Matthew 28:18-20)

At the age of 14, I went through the ritual of confirmation in the State Lutheran Church, took communion for the first time and the only thing that impressed me at this religious ceremony was that I did not like the wine (Lutherans, like Catholics, use fermented wine), it tasted horrible to me. As a result, I never again went back to the Lutheran church and had communion.

At the age of 27 years, my wife and I started to attend a Southern Baptist Church in Salt Lake City. We had only been to church a few times when the pastor, Robert McCullar, told me that we needed to be baptized in water through immersion. My immediate reaction was anger. What’s wrong with this pastor; he should be happy that we had come to Christ, after all, I was sprinkled (given a hair wash) as a baby boy.

But Pastor Robert did not let the subject go. He took us to the Bible and started to show us Scripture. First he showed us that Jesus himself was baptized in water through immersion - Matthew 3:13-17. Then he took us to Matthew 28:18-20 and showed us that Jesus commanded his disciples to preach the Word, and once the people were saved, baptize them in water. Jesus never told his disciples to sprinkle the heads of infants, this doctrine is not to be found in the Bible! Furthermore, the custom of sprinkling heads was not used by John the Baptist, nor by Jesus or his apostles, it was another custom brought in hundreds of years after Christ!

When I learned this, my confidence was shaken, how could I argue with the Bible? Then followed more passages in the Bible, Acts 2:38-41; 10:44-48 and many more. But it was when he came to chapter six of Romans, that I was able to understand the significance of water baptism. WATER BAPTISM IS AN ACT OF OBEDIENCE AND SUBMISSION.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Romans 6:1-6

When I read this, I realized that water baptism does not make me a member of a church or a denomination, but that I was to be baptized into Christ. Going under the water I was symbolically dying to my flesh, and when I came up out of the water it was a sign of the resurrection that shall happen to me one day. Since I had an intense love for Jesus as my Lord and Saviour, I wanted to please Him and be obedient to Him, and since He had told us to be baptized in water, there were no more doubts in my mind. My next question was, "How soon can this be done?"

Water baptism through immersion is an act of the will, when the born again believer in Christ submits to the command of Jesus and in obedience is baptized in water. It was now clear to me, that the sprinkling of infants is another man made doctrine which has no validity before God!

Shortly thereafter I stood in the water ready to be lowered under the water by my pastor. But the traditions of men have a strong hold on people, and suddenly great fear came upon me. The thought came into my mind, "What am I doing, am I going to discard family traditions going back for hundreds of years? Am I abandoning my faith and family?" As this fear swept over me, I quickly reviewed Scripture verses, and then took a step of faith, trusting that the Bible was my foundation, not the Lutheran traditions. The joy that filled me when I came up out of the water cannot be described. Jesus had saved me and now I had openly taken the ultimate step for me and proclaimed I AM A FOLLOWER OF JESUS, A CHRISTIAN!

Once I had moved through these two events, the power of God manifested itself in me to a degree that I never could have dreamt was possible. Now when I prayed for the sick, they were healed; when I came in contact with demon infested people, I had the power to cast demons out; but most of all, I had total peace inside of me, the security of my salvation and the joy of serving God.

Remember, it is all built upon the work that Jesus did on the cross. He laid the foundation and without a proper foundation there can be no great building. Do not trust in what people have told you or are telling you, go directly to the source – THE BIBLE, and then make the decision for Christ that will not only give you eternal life with God, but also a powerful triumphant life on the earth, as we serve God here and now.

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. I Corinthians 3:11-15

Do you have an ear with which to hear?

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