{"id":2304,"date":"2022-07-02T09:36:31","date_gmt":"2022-07-02T08:36:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saltshakers.com\/?p=2304"},"modified":"2022-07-02T09:36:49","modified_gmt":"2022-07-02T08:36:49","slug":"hashkama-there-by-the-grace-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/saltshakers.church\/?p=2304","title":{"rendered":"Hashkama \u2013 There by the Grace of God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><em>He has told you, mortal one, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?<\/em><\/strong> (Micah 6:8)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I had completed this article and was about to send it to be uploaded on the website, when a friend, named Mieke Mantel<a href=\"#_edn1\">[i]<\/a>, sent me a tract she had written on Facebook.&nbsp; It rather sums up in a few sentences what I have written.&nbsp; She is asked, and answers questions: \u201cThem \u2013 What belief are you? Me \u2013 Well I am a bible believer.&nbsp; Them \u2013 Well I know that, but what are you called?&nbsp; Me \u2013 His Child.&nbsp; Them \u2013 (laughs) No I mean, what denomination, like what is it called?&nbsp; Me \u2013 I broke free from religions and just started following what I was reading in the bible.&nbsp; Them \u2013 (looks at me weird).&nbsp; Me \u2013 Yeah, we just read the bible in our home and try to walk in it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two recent incidents took me back to past memories.&nbsp; The first concerned a Facebook group.&nbsp; I had shared an article entitled Hashkama: Look Up<a href=\"#_edn2\">[ii]<\/a>.&nbsp; A comment was left saying: \u201cURGENT! Brother, can you help me here?&nbsp; We ALL agree Jesus died on the cross for our sins BUT MANY (Matthew 7:13-14), if not MOST, disagree on what God commands man to do in order to receive salvation.&nbsp; In simple terms \u2018What must I do to be saved?\u2019\u201d&nbsp; I suggested to the questioner that since he was the admin of the group, he had probably reached an understanding of how to be saved.&nbsp; He replied that he has been a Christian for 31 years and was very confident about what the Bible teaches with regard to salvation; and that he is an Admin of several groups to a total of 120,000 people.&nbsp; I didn\u2019t tell him how long I have been a Christian, it is not a competition \u2013 and anyway, if it were, how could I compete with such a spiritual giant, him being an Admin of several Facebook groups? &nbsp;His opener was: \u2018URGENT!\u2019&nbsp; It wasn\u2019t at all urgent, in fact it was dishonest and misleading from the beginning.&nbsp; &nbsp;He already had a clear understanding \u2013 to his mind \u2013 of how to be saved.&nbsp; Secondly, he referred to me as \u201cBrother\u201d, recognising me as a Christian.&nbsp;&nbsp; The whole thing made me think he wanted something concrete to disagree with.&nbsp; The article he was commenting on wasn\u2019t even on salvation per se or about \u2018how to be saved;\u2019 but included an incidental reference I suppose, that one could possibly lose one\u2019s salvation; such a statement is anathema in much of Christendom, but the concept is clearly seen in Scripture.&nbsp; To see it one has to believe the Bible and what it says.&nbsp; It was probably that which upset him, but he wasn\u2019t honest enough to say so.&nbsp; A Freudian slip may be that he knew where to put capital letters except when it came to \u2018the Cross\u2019, where he used a lower-case \u2018c\u2019.&nbsp; He supposedly wanted clarification on what I believed.&nbsp; He said that anyone who is saved should know the simple gospel message because they just \u201cexperienced it;\u201d they just \u201cobeyed it.\u201d&nbsp; He said that the answer is simple enough that anyone should be able to answer it in a matter of \u201cseconds.\u201d&nbsp; The problem is that one question leads to another and there is no end to it, especially from someone who already knows what he believes.&nbsp; Jesus knows the heart of man is deceptive (Jeremiah 17:9), and people tried to trap him in conversation (Matthew 22:18; Mark 12:13-17; Luke 20:19-20).&nbsp; Easy believe-ism is rampant in Christendom and is a killer of true faith, so I wasn\u2019t going to go there.&nbsp; I had just written the next online article<a href=\"#_edn3\">[iii]<\/a> which would be available the following week.&nbsp; He had told me what a busy person he is, but he didn\u2019t consider that I might live a very busy life too.&nbsp; The article answered his question \u201csimply\u201d, so I said I would post it in his group.&nbsp; When I went to do that only days later, I couldn\u2019t find the group.&nbsp; He had obviously blocked me \u2013 this was Cancel Culture Christian style.&nbsp; He had done what he intended doing all along.&nbsp; He had referred to me as \u201cBrother\u201d yet it was as if he had slammed his church door in my face.&nbsp; Is this how we are to use the grace of God extended to us?&nbsp; What if I had been a new believer or young Christian?&nbsp; I think on this occasion, Mark might have missed the mark.&nbsp; Christians claim to be so different from the world, but really some of our behaviour is very similar.&nbsp; In the past I was \u2018cancelled\u2019 by friends because of my understanding of the tribulation and rapture; I wasn\u2019t running with the popular crowd.&nbsp; There are Facebook groups that are purely Pre-Trib, and you have no chance if you present a different view; you are not welcome, Cristian or not! &nbsp;Christian Cancel Culture is a Satanic reality.&nbsp; I haven\u2019t come across any \u2018Great Tribulation\u2019 groups on Facebook, or anywhere else yet, but it might be interesting if there were such.&nbsp; I did see something like a \u201cPersecution Now\u201d group.&nbsp; The second example concerned a couple that were watching a church meeting on Zoom.&nbsp; They were elderly and probably not entirely up to the technical stuff of today.&nbsp; They had not \u2018muted\u2019 themselves, and muttered away through the whole meeting, complaining all the time.&nbsp; Am I better than those in the two examples?&nbsp; Probably not \u2013 perhaps even worse.&nbsp; We are all guilty before the Lord.&nbsp; It is only His mercy and His grace that any of us are still living.&nbsp; Should we continue living like those in the two examples?&nbsp; They were reminders, if I needed reminding, that God is Righteous.&nbsp; He called us out from selfish, sinful lives.&nbsp; The Lord\u2019s Coming is at hand; will He find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So how did this remind me of my past?&nbsp; Years ago, I was in fellowship where prayer and Bible study were essential to life itself.&nbsp; It was an atmosphere of belief, but not everyone believed the same things, so it was quite lively in discussing the different doctrines and the various understandings.&nbsp; We had the easy believers of once saved always saved, and we had those who insisted that only those who persevere to the end will be saved (Matthew 24:13).&nbsp; We had the Pre-Trib \u2018\u201drapture-\u2018errs\u2019\u201d and the various other kinds; so discussion was wide-ranged, interesting and sometimes frustrating, resulting in some moaning and groaning.&nbsp; As a new believer I was taught and believed that anyone praying the \u2018sinner\u2019s prayer\u2019 was saved for eternity.&nbsp; Also, I believed in the prevailing Pre-Trib rapture teaching.&nbsp; I read the Hal Lindsey books, popular at that time, with great relish.&nbsp; However, since those early days, and having read the Bible from cover-to-cover a number of times, and thought my way through God\u2019s Word, my understanding has changed immensely over the years.&nbsp; It is not only our understanding that has to be challenged and to mature; our thought-life and the way we live has to change too.&nbsp; We seem to be far from the teaching of Scripture in the way we live according to God\u2019s word.&nbsp; We appear to be very much like those that dropped during the desert wanderings.&nbsp; I suggest it is helpful to study God\u2019s dealings with the people of Israel, in the Old Testament Scriptures as well as the New Testament.&nbsp; When the words were written \u201cAll Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness\u201d (2 Timothy 3:16), the only Scriptures available were those of the Old Testament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s take a brief look at God\u2019s dealings with Israel.&nbsp; They all \u201cexperienced it\u201d and in the beginning \u201cobeyed it.\u201d&nbsp; Abram\/Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3).&nbsp; We know that he believed God because He followed God, journeyed through life with God, and did what God told him to do. &nbsp;God promised the land of Canaan to Abraham (Genesis 17:8) \u201cAnd I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.\u201d&nbsp; It was four-hundred years later when the Israelites entered the land.&nbsp; Abraham\u2019s faith was followed by his walk (Hebrews 11:8-12).&nbsp; It is the obedience of faith (2 Corinthians 10:5), not only that one believes in Jesus but that one continues and remains in Jesus.&nbsp; This is to continue to walk in the Spirit and not fall back into being led by the flesh, the fallen nature.&nbsp; Near the end of his life, writing to Timothy Paul said: \u201cI have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith\u201d (2 Timothy 4:7).&nbsp; For Paul, faith in Jesus was ongoing.&nbsp; Someone wrote to me saying that their faith is simple.&nbsp; If they simply believed and simply obeyed that would be fine.&nbsp; Often it is that someone has entered, but they have never walked the walk of faith.&nbsp; They make a confession and that\u2019s it.&nbsp; Let\u2019 go back a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joseph you will remember, had been sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers (Genesis Ch.37) \u2013 Yes, slavery was around long before there were white English or white Americans.&nbsp; In the New Testament we have a somewhat similar situation, which is developing in our own time \u2013 \u201cNow brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death\u201d (Matthew 10:21).&nbsp; Eventually Jacob and his descendants descended into Egypt (Exodus 1:5) to escape the famine.&nbsp; Joseph, the slave, under God\u2019s hand had been raised to the powerful position of being second in command in Egypt.&nbsp; In Genesis 41:53 through Genesis Ch.45 we read of the famine and of Joseph revealing himself to his brothers; and in Genesis Ch.46, Jacob goes to Egypt.&nbsp; The Hebrews settled in Egypt until things changed and they were no longer welcome, and the people of Israel themselves became slaves in Egypt.&nbsp; You can read the story through yourself.&nbsp; The Hebrews were oppressed to the point where they called out for help (Exodus 2:23-25; 3:9); and God heard their groaning (Exodus 3:7).&nbsp; What happened then is a reminder of what could be happening now in the so-called free world and in the coming days.&nbsp; Freedoms are being lost all the time, and Christians are despised for not running with the world into destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moving on, God instructs the Israelites in Exodus Ch.12, that each household was to slaughter a lamb and to put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts and lintels of their homes.&nbsp; They were to eat the meat that night with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast \u2013 see 1 Corinthians 5:8 in the New Testament.&nbsp; Each family believed and followed the instructions.&nbsp; They were led under the covering of God, out of Egypt to travel to the land God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the land of Canaan.&nbsp; Some claim that this is a picture of the rapture.&nbsp; If it is, of all those that came up out of Egypt, only two entered Canaan.&nbsp; Others liken the liberation from Egypt to redemption.&nbsp; The same applies, of all those that came out of Egypt, only two entered the Promised Land.&nbsp; Many, having fallen into unbelief, and fell in the desert. (Hebrews 3:19. See also 2 Peter 1:6-10).&nbsp; Christianity is a life-long walk with the Lord.&nbsp; It isn\u2019t a one-time confession of faith so now I\u2019m going to heaven.&nbsp; That is only the beginning, the starting post; it is not the finishing post.&nbsp; Many fell away in the Old Testament, and many fall away in the New Testament.&nbsp; Some believe, but only for a while then they quickly fall away (Mark 14:16-17). But, according to the parable, they did believe with joy to begin with.&nbsp; They heard the word and received it with joy; they entered the race but they did not run it; they dropped out.&nbsp; Some drop out quicker than others.&nbsp; Some go on religiously just in case, thinking they are safe, but they do not live the life God has called them to.&nbsp; There will be a great falling away (from the faith \u2013 1 Timothy 4:1) before Christ comes again, and takes those that endure to the end, who are alive, out from the earth to meet Him in the air 1 Thessalonians 4:17).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We should not fall for the argument that people in the Old Testament were not regenerate.&nbsp; Nowhere does it say that they fell away because they were unregenerate.&nbsp; The people fell away because they were unfaithful to the covenant.&nbsp; They had been redeemed by God, but they failed to trust Him.&nbsp; They departed from the faith they once knew.&nbsp; The \u2018once save always saved\u2019 divide the testaments when it suits them, but unite them when it comes to proving their various points \u2013 infant baptism, crossing the Red\/Reed Sea and so forth.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Moses was in the Old Testament and so was Elijah, yet they were also alive in the New Testament appearing in the land of Promise with Messiah! (Matthew 17:3-4; Mark 9:4; Luke 9:30-31)).&nbsp; \u201cEnoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him\u201d (Genesis 5:24).&nbsp; Moreover, who are the two witnesses in Revelation Ch.11?&nbsp; Could they be people that had not died before? Because: \u201c\u2026it is destined for people to die once, and after this comes judgment\u201d (Hebrews 9:27).&nbsp; Are they, as some suggest, Old Testament prophets?&nbsp; It does seem that God accepts the Old Testament as relevant in the New Testament.&nbsp; Messiah quoted from those Scriptures, since the New Testament had not even been written; for Jesus, there was no discontinuity with the Tanakh. &nbsp;He didn\u2019t negate the word, not one jot or tittle (Matthew 5:18), or the experiences of those in the Tanakh.&nbsp; Some Old Testament saints appear not to have died, but were transported straight to heaven.&nbsp; Can you name any of them?&nbsp; How many New Testament saints enjoyed a similar experience?&nbsp; My memory is not so good now, but I can\u2019t think of anyone.&nbsp; Paul speaks of a man in Christ that was caught up to the third heaven, but he didn\u2019t know if he was in the body or out of the body (2 Corinthians 12:2-5).&nbsp; Some in the future will \u201cnot sleep\u201d but will be changed in the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:51-57).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Watch the language<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe said to them, \u201cDid you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?\u201d And they said to him, \u201cOn the contrary, we have not even heard if there is a Holy Spirit\u201d (Acts 19:2).&nbsp; Notice the question.&nbsp; He didn\u2019t ask \u201cWhen you were saved.\u201d&nbsp; His question was, \u201cwhen you believed.\u201d&nbsp; The initiation in the process of salvation can be spread over a short time, and is for some.&nbsp; On the other hand, it can take weeks, months or years.&nbsp; It involves repentance towards God, faith in Jesus, baptism in water, and reception of the Holy Spirit.&nbsp; Having begun, we are to continue walking in the Spirit and obedience to God\u2019s word.&nbsp; Salvation is a continuing process.&nbsp; We are saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved (Matthew 24:13; Romans 5:10; 1 Corinthians 5:5; <a>1 Timothy 4:16<\/a> \u2013 \u201cYou will save <em>yourself<\/em> and your hearers.\u201d&nbsp; Clearly Timothy was not yet saved; Hebrews 9:28).&nbsp; These Scriptures are just a few examples of the future emphasis concerning being saved.&nbsp; Our salvation is final and complete when Christ returns \u2013 1 John 3:2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I will perhaps return to this theme in the future, but will have to bring it to a close for now.&nbsp; We will finish with a mention of the book that is in God\u2019s hand, often referred to as the book of life.&nbsp; It is mentioned in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament.&nbsp; This book contains the names of those that He has redeemed.&nbsp; David begged that his sins be blotted out, because if your sins are not blotted out, your name will be.&nbsp; The book of life is mentioned in Philippians 4:3; and Revelation 3:5 where we note that it really is possible to be blotted out of the book of life: \u201cLike them, he who overcomes will be dressed in white. And I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and His angels.\u201d&nbsp; The Way of salvation is a journey, a walk, therefore, walk worthy of the calling\u201d (Ephesians 4:1, Colossians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 2:12).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blessings and shalom<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Malcolm [27.06.2022]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref1\">[i]<\/a> https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mieke.mantel<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref2\">[ii]<\/a> http:\/\/saltshakers.com\/?p=2184<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref3\">[iii]<\/a> http:\/\/saltshakers.com\/?p=2208<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>He has told you, mortal one, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v15.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Hashkama \u2013 There by the Grace of God - SALTSHAKERS creativity in action<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/saltshakers.church\/?p=2304\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hashkama \u2013 There by the Grace of God - SALTSHAKERS creativity in action\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"He has told you, mortal one, what is good; 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