THE GREAT LIE

Dear Reader, This article is addressed to people who already say they have faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and are still committing willful sin because they believe the great lie of Satan.

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: "a good understanding have all they that do his commandments." Ps 111:10

From the beginning of time, Satan's plan has been to remove the fear of God from the hearts of men. The Serpent seduced Eve by convincing her that even if she disobeyed the commandment of God she would not die.

4 "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die." Gen 3:4

That pleasing lie is the foundation of every false religion. Do you think that those who teach re-incarnation are really saying: "You will not die"? When one knows what to look for, this same scheme is easily seen in most denominations of the modern Christian church.

As in all successful lies, there is an element of truth. The essence of Christ's teaching was that there would be some who would not die. The lie is to say that those who continue to disobey God will not die. One version of The Great Lie is based upon the concept that some are chosen by God to be saved and thus no matter what commandments they choose to break, they "shall not surely die.".

Another group's twist is that Jesus has "paid it all" and by believing in that doctrine, no matter how many sins one commits, he "shall not surely die."

One church is more clever. They say that one must keep the commandments of God, but if you break them (they say) you may confess that sin to the priest and "ye shall not surely die".

In each of the examples above, the doctrine is designed to remove the fear of God from those who continue to disobey the commandments of God. Thank God for the Bible! What does it have to say about the fear of God? Again we see that The Great Lie (Ye shall not surely die) has an element of truth. There is a way that the fear of God's punishment is removed - perfect love. The apostle John wrote on that very subject. He said:

"There is no fear in love: but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath punishment; and he that feareth is not made perfect in love." I Jn 4:18

There is the truth, it is not being chosen, it is not Jesus paying the price, and it is not confession to the priest that delivers us from fear of God's punishment. It is "PERFECT LOVE."

And what is "perfect love"? John explains: "Herein is love made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, even so are we in this world. I Jn 4:17

That is the standard, we are to be like Jesus was in this world. He lived with out disobeying the commandments of God and so must those who follow Him.

The apostle made those facts absolutely clear earlier in His epistle. He wrote:

4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;

5 but whoso keepeth his word, in him verily hath the love of God been perfected. Hereby we know that we are in him:

6 he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also **to walk even as he walked.**

There it is for those who want to hear. We know we are in Christ if we walk as he walked. Jesus walked with out committing sin. He did not willfully disobey any of God's Commandments and so must we.

The Great Lie is designed to contradict this truth by removing the fear of God from those who do disobey God's commandments. It worked with Eve, and it works wonderfully well today. But those who listen to the Scriptures can avoid being deceived.

How? God made it easy to see Satan's scheme - if anyone offers a plan by which you can break God's commandments and still receive eternal life - they are echoing the Serpent's words...

"Ye shall not surely die."

Satan's plan is to remove the fear of God because the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and by it men depart from evil. Remove the fear of God and there is no need to depart from evil.

Harold and Donna Kupp

Prov 1:7
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

Prov 16:6
"By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil."