Good News!─Final Edition

Is Finally Here!

Through the ages God has progressively revealed his salvation plan: first in the Old Testament, then in the New; and then through later messengers. “This is what the LORD says … See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:16,19). Each scriptural messenger declared the insight God gave him/her as they understood it, within their language, time and culture; and God blessed and used their efforts.

But oh so sadly, each one of the later messengers took their new insight to an extreme that failed to retain the biblical balance in God’s Salvation Plan! Now, however, this plan has been finally and fully revealed!

Does this sound like an audacious claim? Yes, and the only way to prove or disprove it is to follow the example of the Bereans. Acts 17:11 says they “examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” Jesus referred to this plan as the “message” in His Upper Room Prayer when He prayed that His followers would proclaim it so “the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:20–21). Paul, in Ephesians 4:11-13, called this message “unity in the faith,” and predicted that we would see this day.

The following version of God’s Salvation Plan—brief, balanced, biblical, and applicable to all regardless of culture or race—challenges the different and contradictory traditions that have divided God’s people down through the centuries.

If you would like to follow the Berean’s example, this brief article introduces a way for you to start doing so.

God’s Salvation Plan (Summarized)

Salvation is “by grace … through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). This marvelous statement can be properly understood only by more biblically re-defining the terms sin, faith, and grace than they have been traditionally defined.

Sin is three-fold: (1) Essence or nature—being defiled, and under the control of the Evil One; (2) Expressions—deliberately committing recognized sins and omitting recognized duties; and (3) Effects—committing unrecognized sins and failing to perform unrecognized duties.

Faith is also three-fold: (1) Intellectual belief that reverses sin’s doubt; (2) Experiential trust that replaces sin’s distrust; and (3) Volitional obedience that removes sin’s disobedience.

Grace is not just God’s “unmerited favor”; but His actions in providing a complete solution to man’s sin problem by a number of crises-in-process “acts,” in three crises-in-process “works,” that enable us to be:

All Evangelicals believe in important aspects of this “message,” but all of us seem to be depending more on our various traditions than on the Scriptures by following the Anglican way, the Baptist way, the Catholic way; or―we could go on through the alphabet listing ways.

Augustine influenced the Church to deny the right of priests to marry; though this had been allowed previously for centuries. This was a sad distortion!

Luther was so convinced that “works” did not bring salvation he called the book of James “a book of straw” for saying that “faith without works is dead” (AV).

Calvin so stressed the sovereignty of God that he failed to adequately stress man’s responsibility for responding to grace, by failing to distinguish between deliberate sins and sins of ignorance—a vast difference!

Wesley taught a second work of grace, yet failed to recognize that praying ‘’forgive us our trespasses” indicated more wrongdoing than what he called “infirmities.” Paul said he was “holy and blameless.” never “holy and sinless.” This experience awaits our Lord’s return.

Adventists relate “Sabbath” worship to salvation, and some groups stress membership, attire, baptism, or allowable food; and some preach a “success” theory instead of the “suffering” gospel—which are complete opposites; for “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him” (2 Timothy 2:12). So God has built his kingdom through a multi-splintered Church.

In the year 2000, there were 33,830 “Christian” organizations (World Christian Encyclopedia, Oxford University Press, 2001); each claiming to be preaching the “message.” So here we are, millions strong, claiming to be “in Christ,” yet far from seeing the result for which our Lord so earnestly prayed!

Is this the best we can do? Does anyone believe that this is what our Lord prayed for, or is satisfied with? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if enough of us who are “in Christ” could agree on the “message,” so that God could use this unity for answering his Son’s prayer?

God’s Salvation Plan has been so clearly indicated in the Scriptures that it is almost inconceivable that not one group has been teaching it fully; but that is what has happened. Acceptance and proclamation of this message, with which several leading theologians agree, could be the catalyst for the “world-wide” revival we have been praying for, for so long!

After years of service in other ministries, I became the Secretary for the American Bible Society and the British and Foreign Bible Society in eight Bible Land countries. There I enjoyed good cooperation and fellowship with Christians from across the spectrum of churches, despite our doctrinal differences. After eliminating the “foreign” names “American” and “British” from the names of our work in each country, I resigned to make way for a competent, dedicated national leader, returned to the States, and after a few years “retired.”

I then decided to “search the Scriptures” for an explanation of my fellowship across conflicting traditions. It was then that God made this plan clear to me, and that it applies to everyone; not just to us “Christians.” He then miraculously opened the way for me and some colleagues to open up a ministry on the Internet designed to challenge all to hear God's message for us all today.

The following challenge occurs seven times in Revelation chapters 2 and 3: ”He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” If this plan is just our words, so what! But if they are what the Spirit is saying to all of us, we dare not refuse to hear—and obey!

The Church has been much more active when its various traditions have been in competition; so it is understandable that God has allowed traditions to compete through all these years. But now it is surely time for these divisions to be abridged; and we believe that anyone “in Christ” can adjust to these truths without altering any biblically-sound element of their currently-held tradition. What a tragedy it would be for your tradition or mine to not have a part in sharing these marvelous insights into God’s Salvation Plan!

If you want to follow the Berean’s example further, a free article entitled “God’s Salvation Plan” is available at our website that adds the scriptural references supporting each insight; and outlines the Plan on to the end of time, making it an excellent personal or group Bible Study-guide.

 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.

―2 Corinthians 2:17

Yours, "in Christ,"

Brother Jim

Founder, In Christ Fellowship

Website: www.InChristFellowship.org

Email: Support@InChristFellowship.org