I
have some free time this morning so I thought that I would write about an
encounter that I had yesterday evening and along with that a subject that is
dear to my heart. Yesterday evening I
had a young woman come up to me inside of a local store selling Sonic coupon
cards for $5. I say young, I do not know
how old she was, because so many look young to me these days. She said that she was raising money for her
church to help needy children.
I
asked for the name of her church. She said, "Jesus Christ Church International,
we are a nondenominational church."
I then asked her to tell me the gospel.
She then paraphrased 1 Cor 15:3-4.
So I thought, “Ok that’s good.” Then I asked her, “What must I do to be
saved?” She answered,
"Believe...And follow the bible."
I then asked, "Would it be correct in saying that you must repent
and believe?" She answered,
"Yes." I asked her, "What
does it mean to repent?" She said, "To change." I then gave her some money and a gospel
tract.
When
I got to my car I looked up her church on my phone. I then found out that her church is Oneness
Pentecostal. I was saddened that I had not spent more time with her telling her
about the Son of God Christ Jesus. I
took solace however in the sovereignty of God, because I had given her a gospel
tract that I had written many years ago to hand out at Christmas. The tract clearly says who Jesus is and what
His relationship is to the Father.
Here
is what the tract says on the backside:
“If
you have ever lied, stolen, murdered (hated), committed adultery (lusted), you
have broken God’s commands which the Bible calls sin. The penalty for sin is death in hell, eternal
separation from God (all goodness). God
sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, who took our punishment on the Cross
so that we might have eternal life with God in heaven. All that God requires of you is to repent and
put your faith in Jesus Christ, accept Him as Lord by Faith.”
Oneness
Pentecostals are (modalist), they believe that Jesus and the Father are the same person, that the
Father left heaven and became a man.
This seems to be the opposite theology of Jehovah Witness who denies
the deity of Jesus the Christ. But in
all actuality they are two sides of the same unbelieving coin.
The Lord Jesus said in His high priestly
prayer to the Father, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (Jn 17:3) Jesus is not the Father He is the Son, the Word
of the Father. Jesus said, “He who
believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.”
So
if you worship Jesus you are worshiping God, if you obey Jesus you are obeying
God, if you believe in Jesus you are believing in God, if you believe Jesus you
are believing God, because Jesus is the Word of God become flesh. Jesus is not the Father He is the Son, who
has all authority in heaven and on earth.
If you disobey the Son of God who are you disobeying? The answer is you are disobeying God.
