Allow me to preface these truths with an important caveat. When speaking of \u201cwe,\u201d this article refers to those of the one true faith (the same way scripture uses \u201cwe\u201d), and not those of any of man’s religions (judaism, christianity, islam, etc.). \u201cWe\u201d means those who are of the true faith, who are led by the Holy Spirit, whose eternal seal upon Messiah’s bride is the NEW covenant (of marriage to the Lamb).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my fifty years as someone who was formally educated in many of the popular doctrines taught by the myriad different flavors (denominations) of christianity, it was usually believed (and often stated) that one is not to \u201cjudge\u201d whether someone who claims to be saved actually is. As long as a person claims to be saved, then that person is to be regarded, without question, to be saved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I spent the majority of my life believing that someone else’s salvation is none of my business, and if someone states that he is saved, then I am to take the statement at face value, and regard that person as my \u201cbrother.\u201d Of course, during this time, those who spoke of salvation believed that \u201cbeing saved\u201d was merely a decision a person makes\u2014that salvation is dependent upon someone’s asking forgiveness for all his sins (which is not a part of actual salvation), and accepting Christ into his heart (which is another wholly unscriptural teaching common in christianity).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, imagine what I have encountered over the years since the Holy Spirit taught me His absolute truths regarding the true doctrines of salvation when I ask folks if they can provide the evidence that they have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Usually, after a period of back-and-forth about the differences between true salvation and the counterfeit of it that christianity peddles, and asking folks WHO told them they had been given the Holy Spirit, HOW they were told, and WHAT they were told, conversations with those in christianity typically end with my being told that I am not to question anybody else’s salvation, or that it was wrong to make people question their own salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, as I’ve learned since the Holy Spirit led me out of christianity many years ago now, I must thoroughly evaluate this common belief to see if it aligns with all of scripture, or if it is a false teaching. Also, what the Holy Spirit has taught me now for years is that salvation does not come by any of christianity’s most typical teachings\u2014it is not given because of any \u201csinner’s prayer\u201d or going forward in any church to \u201cmake a decision.\u201d No, those things are not salvation at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, salvation does not come by getting dunked in water in front of an audience, by joining a church, by obeying the ten commandments, or by any work or direction by man (John 1:13). So, there is already an issue when speaking with those who falsely believe those things saved them, and placed the Holy Spirit within them, when there has been no true evidence given to the person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1 John 4:1, John states that it is imperative that those who are of Yah are to test the \u201cspirits,\u201d which in this context, refers to the \u201cvital principle,\u201d or \u201cmental disposition\u201d of the one who claims to have been given the Holy Spirit. Essentially, the child of Yah is to question what the person believes\u2014what his \u201cbelief system\u201d is. And, by performing such an exercise, through simply asking questions, those who are led by the Holy Spirit are able to discern through the Holy Spirit’s guidance, who is of Yah, and who is not of Yah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, why is this important? It’s important because it directly contradicts what is most often taught in christianese circles. I hear it all the time from those in christianity. They say, \u201cThat’s between me and God\u201d (yes, many have poor grammar, LOL!), or \u201cIt’s none of anyone’s business, because it’s a private matter.\u201d They say \u201conly God can judge.\u201d Well, if that is true, then why did Messiah Yahoshua specifically say to \u201cjudge righteous judgment\u201d? And, if salvation is a \u201cprivate matter,\u201d why did Yahoshua say that He will confess before His Father only those who openly confess Him before men, and for those who keep such things \u201cprivate,\u201d meaning they don’t publicly declare their faith in Messiah Yahoshua, He will not confess them before His Father?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yahoshua taught against judging hypocritically, which is what the Pharisees did, but He never said that Yah’s people were not to judge at all. We are indeed to judge between what is truth and what is error\u2014between true doctrines and false doctrines\u2014between \u201cgood trees\u201d and \u201cbad trees,\u201d which is how Messiah classified teachers\u2014those who teach good doctrine vs. those who teach false doctrine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, the truth in this matter is stated even more explicitly in other New Testament passages. For example, in 2 Corinthians 6:14, Paul teaches that Yah’s children are not to maintain close personal relationships with those who are not of the true faith. He said, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To be \u201cyoked\u201d with someone else is to be attached to them\u2014it implies personal relationship or involvement in an unbeliever’s practical daily life (hanging out, associating, or participation in the things of the world), and to \u201cfellowship\u201d is to have personal communion, conversation, or participation with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These principles are taught throughout the scriptures, and they are actually the spiritual real substance of what was foreshadowed by the clean vs. unclean laws in the Law of Moses. The physical Jews were commanded not to associate with physical Gentiles on a personal level. They could speak to Gentiles in the normal course of daily business, but they were not to fellowship or even eat with them at all. They were commanded to remain separate from them.
But, under the NEW covenant, which is spiritual (the OLD covenant and written law were physical foreshadow), Paul explains that it’s not physical Gentiles and physical Jews, but that those who are made true Jews (Romans 2:29), which is anyone of any race or bloodline who is given the NEW covenant (the eternal seal of the Holy Spirit upon Messiah’s bride), are to learn from what was commanded to the physical Jews under the Law of Moses, which was all physical foreshadow. Paul taught that it was a picture of Messiah’s bride keeping herself separate from those outside of the faith, who scripture defines as \u201cthe world\u201d and \u201cdarkness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, even the ordinance in the Torah concerning not touching a dead body is a foreshadow of the same spiritual principle, as \u201ctouching\u201d something implies being connected or attached to it. So, the picture was\u2014that which is alive is not to be connected to that which is dead (those who have the Holy Spirit are spiritually alive, while those who do not have the Holy Spirit are spiritually dead).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’ve gone much deeper into these doctrinal teachings in other articles, but these alone should suffice to make the general point. If one is not to question whether a person is saved or not, when they claim to be, how are Yah’s children supposed to know who NOT to fellowship with or maintain personal attachments to? That could not be done apart from discerning who is a saved child of Yah, and who is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, ultimately, it is the child of Yah who is responsible to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the scriptures He inspired, just as it was the duty of physical Jews not to maintain personal attachments with any physical Gentiles. It’s all the same thing\u2014but one is a physical foreshadow (OT), and the other is the spiritual real substance revealed to Messiah Yahoshua’s bride (NT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yah’s children are told to \u201cWalk in the light as He is in the light\u201d (1 John 1:7), but scripture is clear that His children cannot walk in the light if they cling to the darkness. So, if we’re not to discern who is of the light and who is of the darkness, then how can Yah’s children know who it is they are not to fellowship or maintain attachments with?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If christianity’s false teachings about these things were true, then it would not grieve the Holy Spirit to fellowship with anyone and everyone, regardless of spiritual condition, but scripture is clear that’s just not the case. And when one understands these things according to what the entirety of scripture teaches on this matter\u2014then it becomes obvious just how important it is for those who have the Holy Spirit NOT to do what christianity often teaches, which would be just to accept that everyone who says he’s saved is saved, regardless of whether he is actually of the true faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For more information: What Are the OLD and NEW Covenants?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Allow me to preface these truths with an important caveat. When speaking of \u201cwe,\u201d this article refers to those of the one true faith (the same way scripture uses \u201cwe\u201d), and not those of any of man’s religions (judaism, christianity, islam, etc.). \u201cWe\u201d means those who are of the true faith, who are led by … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14,10,9,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wottblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2977"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wottblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wottblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wottblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wottblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2977"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wottblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2982,"href":"https:\/\/wottblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2977\/revisions\/2982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wottblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wottblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wottblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}