The Unsaved Man's Journey To Find The Truth

2nd Corinthians 4:3-6, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

I was thinking this morning about how hard it is for the unsaved person to find the light of the truth of the saving Gospel. Our text passage from 2nd Corinthians teaches that the Devil deliberately BLINDS unbelievers to hinder them from being born again. Jesus said the thief (Satan) comes only to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10). 1st Thessalonians 2:18, “Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.” The Devil blinds lost people with religion, worldly philosophies, family tradition, the pride of life, sin, evolution, et cetera. Satan works relentlessly to hinder the work of God.

Luke 11:52, “Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.” A “lawyer” in the New Testament was not the same as attorney's today. Bible lawyers were religious ones, experts in the Mosaic law of Moses. The Law given by God to Moses in the Old Testament was the law that was used to govern Israel. A “lawyer,” therefore, was an expert or scholar of the Mosaic Law. Jesus indicted those wicked lawyers, for perverting the Scriptures, failing to recognize Him as the promised Messiah that Moses spoke of. John 7:19, “Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?”

The wicked religious Jewish lawyers were against Jesus. John 5:45-46, “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.” They trusted in Moses instead of Jesus to save them, which is NOT how you get to Heaven. Moses could not save anyone, not even himself. Nowhere in the inspired Holy Bible does it teach to put your faith in Moses to be saved. John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 6:47-50, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.” Jesus plainly declared that He is the Bread of Life.

There is only one true Gospel. Galatians 5:7, “Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?”

1st Thessalonians 2:18, “Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.” Tragically, if you research the various different religions, and attend several different Baptist churches, you will hear umpteen different conflicting plans of salvation, but the inspired Holy Bible warns that there is ONLY ONE Gospel. 1st Corinthians 15:1-4 defines “the gospel” as three things:

1. Jesus DIED on a cross to pay our debt of sin.
2. He was BURIED.
3. Christ resurrected from the dead three days later.

1st Corinthians 15:1-6, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.”

The old adage is true: Repetition is the key to learning. That is why I often preach in my blogs on the same topics, primarily anything pertaining to salvation, because it is so important. There is nothing in this universe more important than knowing that your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life, settled in your soul regarding where you will spend eternity. Thankfully, by God's grace, I KNOW beyond any shadow of a doubt that I am born again. I know I am 100% saved because I am trusting only Jesus Christ, who is the only begotten (biological) Son of God.

I have placed all my apples in one basket, so to speak. If I go to Hell someday, it will be Jesus' fault alone, because I am totally relying upon Him, because of what He accomplished through Calvary's cross to pay my debt of sin. As a 13 year old boy in Chicago, I trusted Jesus as my personal Savior one Sunday morning from a church pew. I received His sacrificial death on the cross as full-payment for my sins, believing that He was buried, but then miraculously raised up from the dead three days later. I came to God as a needy sinner, and by faith I simply believed on His only begotten Son, trusting that Jesus did it all for me on the cross. My faith is only in the precious blood of Jesus. The life that I choose to live, and the sins which I have wilfully committed since I got saved, and my church activity and lack thereof, have absolutely NOTHING to do with going to Heaven. I am the SINNER; Jesus is the SAVIOR.

As I stated earlier, I began to ponder this morning about how difficult it is for the unsaved person to find the light of the truth of the Gospel. I feel sorry for the lost man, woman or child who stumbles into the Roman Catholic cult, where  one is deliberately discouraged from reading the Holy Bible. The unsaved person in Catholicism is lied to by wicked priests, told that they must keep Seven Sacraments to get to Heaven. No such trash is taught in the Word of God. Catholicism is a prisonhouse of religion!

Perhaps I pondered this topic this morning because today is the infamous day of Mardi Gras (“Fat Tuesday” in French) in New Orleans, when Catholics indulge in an orgy of sin and debauchery, and then go confess to their demonic priests tomorrow on Ash Wednesday. How wicked!!! I love all Catholic people, sincerely, but I vehemently HATE the accursed Catholic religion that has damned billions of souls to the Lake of Fire for eternity (Revelation 20:11-15). Sacramental Salvation cannot produce the required new birth by the Holy Spirit (John 3:1-7). If you are a Catholic dear reader, kindly said, you had better repent (change your mind) to CEASE from trusting in your sacramental works, and instead REST completely in the name of Jesus Christ alone and His crucifixtion, burial and resurrection to save you (Romans 1:16; 1st Thessalonians 4:14). Simply BELIEVE that Jesus did it all for you!

Over one billions lost sinners have been BLINDED by Satan to think that some wicked Roman or Orthodox Catholic priest can save them. I tell you truthfully that the Pope is not the vicar (presence) of God on earth; the Pope is THE VICAR OF HELL!!! The Pope calls himself “El Papa” but he dresses like El Mama. What a religious phony! There is NO salvation in the Catholic religion!!!

Then I thought this morning about the 22,000,000 poor souls who've been sucked into the Seventh-Day Adventist cult, with their Satanic Lordship Salvation heresy.

I also thought this morning about the 9,000,000 Jehovah's Witnesses around the world—a dangerous religious cult that denies Jesus' deity, denies the Godhead, denies that Jesus physically resurrected from the dead, denies that Hell is a literal place, and requires forsaking your sinful bad habits to be saved (sadly the same as most perverted Baptist churches today also teach). Pensacola Christian College teaches this damnable heresy! False doctrine concerning salvation has crept into nearly all religious schools, missions and churches today.

Then there are the secretive Mormons—a Masonic despicable religious cult of 17,000,000 followers based upon the sex perverted teachings of Joseph Smith (1805-1844). Smith was eventually lynched by an angry mob because of his illicit relations with several dozen women, all done in the name of God and religion. Remember, in the eyes of a wicked person anything can be justified. The wicked Jews in the Old Testament were committing adultery, theft, idolatry and murder, claiming that they were all doing God's will (Jeremiah 7:8-10). Some of the most heinous evils in history have been unjustly done in God's name. Adolf Hitler claimed to be doing God's will during the Holocaust, while murdering innocent people. President George W. Bush claimed to be doing God's will, while he ruthlessly murdered 2,300,000 innocent Iraqis. Nobody is doing “God's will” who is committing acts of unspeakable evil (James 1:13-14).

I could go on and on, mentioning the names of well-known religious cults, false religions and heretics. The Churches of Christ comes to mind, who have about 2,000,000 members worldwide. This cult errantly requires that you forsake your sinful bad habits to be saved, which is works, not grace. Churches of Christ also foolishly require water baptism to get to Heaven, which is a counterfeit plan of salvation that absolutely cannot produce the required new birth. And for that matter, so also do Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and Lutherans (according to Martin Luther himself) require water baptism to be saved, which proves that they are NOT saved at all. RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!!!

I feel sorry for the unsaved man who is searching for the truth. He is confused and like the popular 1980 song by Johnny Lee, “Looking For Love,” the unsaved man is oftentimes looking for truth in all the wrong places. He goes to the Catholic church and is introduced to ritualism and worshipping idols. He goes to the Mormon church and is shown Masonic ceremonies and taught a damnable counterfeit plan of salvation. Then he goes to the Seventh-Day Adventist cult and is errantly taught that he must keep the Ten Commandments to prove that his faith is genuine or else he is not saved (by the way, this is the same tommyrot that Bob Jones University teaches today). To attack the Gospel of free grace is to attack the God of grace. Please RUN from these dangerous false religions and cults!!!

I remember reading that famous television actor, Jackie Gleason (aka, “The Great One“”), was infatuated with the afterlife before he died in 1987. Sadly, from listening to Mr. Gleason in a 60-Minutes interview, in which he said he didn't think that God would send him to Hell for committing one sin, I don't think he died in the Lord. According to James 2:10, committing even one sin is the same as breaking all of God's commandments. The reason why is because even one sin is all it takes to disqualify anyone from entering into Heaven. Dear reader, you don't have to be good to get to Heaven, you must be 100% perfect! Since no human being other than Jesus has ever lived a perfect life (Hebrews 4:15), we need a Savior. That is why God sent His only begotten Son into the world, so that He could di in our place on the cross. By trusting Christ to save you, God the Father imputes (counts) Christ's righteousness to you by faith (Romans 4:4-7, 10:3-4; Philippians 3:9). If you are saved, God doesn't see your sins anymore, He only sees Jesus' righteousness! I speak of one's POSITION in Christ. Our CONDITION is a separate matter entirely, which does not affect our salvation. Remember, eternal life is the free gift of God, received by faith, paid for by Jesus' precious blood (1st Peter 1:18-19). Some critics of “Easy-Believism” like to call this “cheap grace,” but in fact, it is free grace. It is free to you and me, because it cost Jesus His life.

Having said all that, the inspired Holy Bible teaches that the grace of Gold that brings salvation has appeared to ALL MEN (i.e., every human being). Titus 2:11, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,” I don't claim to understand how this works. Pastor Max D. Younce (1935-2023) wrote an enlightening article titled: 'Is God Unfair To The Heathen?' Dr. Younce teaches that if a heathen in the remote jungles of some remote place on earth has a desire to learn the truth, God is obligated to send them more truth. But if they reject the light which they already have, then God is not obligated to give them more light. I agree with Pastor Younce in this matter of spiritual enlightenment.

I haven't even mentioned all the wacky charismatic false prophets and health, wealth and prosperity heretics; namely: Pat Robertson, Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, Steven Furtick, Benny Hinn, Peter Popoff, Joel Osteen, Oral Roberts, Bill Hamon, Jim Bakker and countless more phonies, cons and charlatans. Their damnation slumbereth not. That is, they are already damned, it's just a matter of time until their day of reckoning arrives. With all these crooks, liars and fraudsters, it is no wonder why millions of lost sinners today won't have anything to do with the churches. Frankly, I don't blame them one bit. But sadly, if they only knew THE TRUTH about how normal, fair and honest our God is, they would quickly come to receive His only begotten Son as their personal Savior. Please don't let religion hinder you from coming to Christ dear friend. Your eternal destiny depends on it!

I had a friend when I was growing up, whose mother hated churches. She often spoke of the crazy nuts in churches in her home town, who passed around snakes to see who was right with God. It's hard to believe that there are still wacky cults like that today, who masquerade as churches. I cannot blame lost sinners for avoiding churches when they see insane stuff like that. But sadly, the only ones who will suffer are the people who refuse to come to Jesus. What saith the Scripture? John 5:40, “And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” Carefully notice that Jesus didn't say you cannot come to Him; but rather, “ye will not come to me.” Whether or not someone comes to Christ is solely up to the individual, and no one else. NO ONE can keep you out of Heaven dear reader, except YOU! Believe and be saved!!! John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

I humbly believe that if any man, woman or child sincerely desires THE TRUTH, they can find it. God has made a way for men to find and know the truth. It doesn't take a skilled theologian to see that something is very wrong with the Roman Catholic religion. The Bible forbids idolizing men. Jesus forbade calling priests “Father” in reverence (Matthew 23:9), yet that is exactly what the Catholic cult does! The Bible warned that false prophets would come forbidding marriage and eating meats (1st Timothy 4:1-3), yet that is exactly what the Catholic cult does! And there are many further proofs that Catholicism goes totally contrary to the inspired Word of God (Matthew 15:8; Mark 7:9).

I have briefly focused on the evils of Roman Catholicism, but I could just as easily expose thousands of false manmade religions!

Most Americans FALSELY consider Mormons, Roman Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, Churches of Christ, Seventh-Day Adventists, Lordship Salvation Baptists, Lutherans, Unitarian Universalists, United Methodists and other pseudo-Christian cults as being "Christian," but in reality NONE OF THEM are Christian. All of these false religions, which add up to over 100 million Americans, falsely think they are Christians but are hellbound infidels. Only born again believers who trust in Jesus Christ alone apart from all works are truly saved.

In addition, the biggest names in evangelicalism today (e.g., Joel Osteen, T.D. Takes, Joyce Meyer, Pat Robertson, Beth Moore, James Dobson, Adrian Rodgers, Billy and Franklin Graham, Chip Ingram, Jimmy Swaggert, Charles Stanley, John MacArthur, Ray Comfort, Robert Jeffress, Jack Chick, William P. Grady, Sam Gipp, Keith Gomez, Pensacola Christian College, Bob Jones University, Unshackled, Paul Washer, Ken Ham, Todd Friel and countless other infidels) all preach a counterfeit plan of Lordship Salvation which requires turning (or being willing to turn) from your sinful bad habits to be saved (this is WORKS). With this tragic reality in view, the United States clearly pretends to be a Christian nation, but it is NOT. Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born again. Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins. Thus, eternal life is a free gift from God. The Bible does NOT require that you first be willing to reform to receive that gift.

Let the inspired KING JAMES BIBLE be your guide. Jesus commanded us to 'SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES' in John 5:39. If you want to discover THE TRUTH, then read and study and abide in the inspired Holy Scriptures!!!