General Articles

Squeaky Clean :: By Grant Phillips

Published on: by RR7

Have you ever noticed the squeaky-clean sound you hear after washing your hair and running your hands through it? This got me to thinking about a comparison between the body and the soul of a Christian. Can we say that our spiritual self is as squeaky clean as our physical being?

We take great pains in keeping our bodies clean, which I’m sure is greatly appreciated by those around us. Some even apply that same care to their favorite car, truck, boat or whatever. Let’s stick with the body and soul for now, though.

Referring only to true Christians, they probably all keep their bodies clean if they are able to do so. How many of us, however, are as concerned about the cleanliness of our souls, especially as we see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:25)? When Jesus returns for His bride (His Church), how many will be caught “with egg on their face”… so to speak? We should give that serious consideration.

In my opinion, Christians handle their spiritual cleanliness in one of three ways.

  1. Constantly worry about sin in their life.
  2. Confess sins as often as necessary
  3. Feel they rarely sin, if ever.

Before looking at these three attitudes toward sin, let us be clear on something else first. When it comes to our salvation, we are sinless in the eyes of God. We are squeaky clean, in other words. How can that be?

I hope we can all agree with Simon Peter in Luke 5:8 when he “fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

How about with Isaiah in Isaiah 6:5 when he said, “… Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips…”

Every true Christian came to the point in their lives that, along with the publican in Luke 18:13 when he, “standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” Along with Noah, we “found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6:8).

So here’s the point, as far as our salvation (relationship with God) is concerned, upon our being born again, we are righteous in the eyes of God. We are squeaky clean. What makes that possible? Upon our being born again, Jesus covers us with His righteousness.

“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10).

(Also see Job 29:14; Psalms 132:9; Isaiah 11:5; 59:17; 64:6; Zechariah 3:4; Revelation 3:4 and 19:8.)

If we are truly Christian, we will never be judged for our sins.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1).

“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalms 103:12).

Therefore, since Jesus has covered us with His righteousness, we are always squeaky clean positionally. At the cross, Jesus paid the penalty for all our sins and clothed us with His righteousness when we called upon Him to save us.

However, even as Christians, we still have that old sin nature within us that wants to fight with the new nature that God has placed within us by His Spirit. The apostle Paul spoke of this in Revelation chapter 7. So how do we deal with this dilemma?

Some Christians constantly worry about sin in their life.

Everyone sins, Christians and non-Christians alike, without exception. When a Christian sins, the penalty for those sins has been paid by the blood of Christ, but even so, they wreak havoc on our fellowship with God. Our salvation is secure, but the fellowship we have with our Lord is interrupted because He cannot fellowship with sin.

That being said, Satan wants the Christian to spend as much time as possible worrying about his/her sins. He doesn’t want us to confess them (1 John 1:9), forget them and move on. No, no, he wants us to keep looking at the sins because it keeps our eyes off God.

Let me be clear that I am not making light of any sin. They are all offensive in God’s eyes, and our Lord paid dearly for our freedom from sin. And that is the point … when we worry about sins we have confessed to Him, and then keep worrying about them, we keep sinning in two ways:

  1. He said He would forgive us if we confess our sins. If we continue to worry about them, we are calling God a liar, refusing to believe He actually did forgive us.
  2. Also, we make light of the price paid by God to save us and to keep us in fellowship with Him.

Some Christians confess their sins as often as necessary.

This is exactly what we should be doing every day. The word “confess” in 1 John 1:9 means literally to name the sins. God tells us to name our sins to Him and He will forgive them (“He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins”), and also He will forgive those sins in our life we forgot or were not aware of (“and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”).

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Some Christians feel they rarely sin, if ever.

It’s hard to believe that a Christian would make such a comment, but some do. They have a real problem at this point because God doesn’t see it that way. God says, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:10).

Those are strong words. I would advise anyone disagreeing with what God says in the above verse (and many other Scripture verses) to immediately go to God and ask forgiveness.

Is it even possible for a true Christian to say they don’t sin? My mother’s Sunday School teacher years ago actually made the comment that she “does not sin.” That is in direct conflict with God’s word on the matter. This sounds very much like the Pharisees, and we know from Matthew 23 what Jesus thought of their sins.

So to recap, we all sin, but a true Christian can go to our Heavenly Father and confess their sins and be forgiven. For the true Christian, the relationship with God (our salvation) is always intact, and the fellowship can be restored by seeking forgiveness and turning from the sin/s.

Our salvation as a child of God is always secure in His hands. Our position (our relationship) in Jesus Christ is guaranteed by the seal of the Holy Spirit.

“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14).

Any sins in our lives will not alter our relationship in Christ, but they will interfere with our fellowship with Him. So to keep that fellowship unbroken, we should confess our sins immediately, accept His forgiveness, turn from them and leave them behind us. If they crop up again, and they may, repeat what we have just stated. Don’t allow Satan to cause us to take our eyes off Jesus and focus on our sins, but let us focus on our Lord.

Even though we often fail, we should make as much effort spiritually as we do physically to keep ourselves squeaky clean.

Grant Phillips

Email: Phillip5769@twc.com

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html

Rapture Reassurance :: By Terry James

Published on: by RR7

During this troubling movement into ever-increasing evil, those among Bible teachers, writers, broadcasters, et al., who proclaim there is to be no pre-Tribulation Rapture are having a field day. They feed the business of prepping for a dystopian world. They stoke the fears of those who agree that life as it’s been known here in America will collapse into a Mad Max-type struggle for existence any day now.

And, in a way, they can’t be blamed. Everything points to a profound loss of sense of reality. End-times insanity certainly seems unstoppable while mankind moves farther and farther from God and toward that time John described in the book of Revelation.

Hearing podcasts today that talk of the horrors to come is disturbing. Not hearing anything about what is coming from the pulpits of most churches is even more disturbing. What disturbs most is that nothing is being told of the truth that Jesus Himself promises: the glorious calling of the Church into His presence at a time of enveloping darkness, like what’s taking place now.    

I recently began listening to a particular podcast because I wanted to hear the host’s take on the stealing of the 2020 presidential election. After I heard that, I continued to listen as much out of daily habit as for any other reason.

The blog’s host paints—correctly, for the most part—a bleak future just ahead for the nation and the world. He points out the globalist minions who want to bring the rest of us under their domination. He includes that he believes the vaccines are all part of the control they intend to establish. They are, he offers, designed to do physical harm to recipients in order to bring the world’s population down dramatically over the ensuing months and years—i.e., he insists the vaccines will interact with immune systems in deleterious ways to cause people to die from the vaccines’ effects.

He believes the world—and the US, in particular—is in for some of the darkest times in human history. Only a few will survive.

And this is where he loses my attention. He says only those who prepare properly will survive—that is, those who are true patriots with a godly or morality-based belief system.

The globalists elite and others of the would-be rulers will submerge into their extravagant underground bunkers and even fully-equipped-for-survival cities.

Folks without these resources will still be able to survive if they follow the prepper rules for survival, including buying survival products such as those offered in his store.

When the blog host began talking in terms of his belief in God—even in Jesus Christ—and his acceptance that the book of Revelation speaks of exactly the time of coming unprecedented trouble he is talking about, my interest was piqued.

He is apparently friends with a couple of well-known writers who delve into the subject of the hard times ahead for the nation and world. These are known to come against any notion of the Rapture of the Church. They’ve even on occasion scoffed at the idea of a pre-Trib movement of God’s people out of harm’s way. Christians will go through the Tribulation, but if properly prepared, will be kept more or less safe by God, they insist. Therefore, they must stock up and brace for the great hardships to come in order to survive.

I perceive that the blog host is, if he is a true believer—and I believe he is—he is a very immature one. That is, he has no understanding of Truth found in God’s Word in regard to prophecy yet future. I gather this opinion based upon several months now of listening.

When he began talking about the judgment and wrath in Revelation, earnestly imploring people to prepare to go through those times, I could do no other than find his email through a close friend who knows one of the men I mentioned earlier—one who is not a pre-Tribber. I emailed the blog host an offer to send him several of my books dealing with exactly the time of terrible trouble to come he’d been talking about. I also told him that his friends who teach against the Rapture are wrong, and, since he says he wants to consider all sides of matters, I wanted to present him with the truth about Christians not going through that coming time of horror.

I haven’t heard back from him. To even consider an alternate possibility to the position his anti-Rapture associates teach would go against his—and their—business models, as well as against their belief system regarding Bible prophecy.

I sensed, however, that I should make the effort to provide truth on that most glorious promise of our Lord that we will be delivered from the time of evil the likes of which mankind has never before seen.

Things going on in every facet of life at this moment, to the observant Bible prophecy student, point to very dark times ahead. The blog host I mention sees a moment coming when things will suddenly and catastrophically change. He thinks it will be brought about by the sudden fall of the US dollar as prime currency for the world, or because of some other financial disaster. Everything will collapse around the people of the nation and the world, and only those who are prepared—by having essentials of life stored, etc.—will survive. Billions will eventually die, he proclaims.

He is right about the coming calamity, except for being able to store enough gold, silver, and food to survive, and the cause of the catastrophic crash and movement into that world that will make the fictional era of Mad Max seem tame and rational by comparison.

That great, catastrophic time of unprecedented trouble will take place when millions of believers are called to be with their Lord in the heavenly clouds above this wrath-bound planet. That moment is drawing near. We can be sure of this because the Lord Jesus Himself said that when believers see the things that are now beginning to take place, we’re to “look up” because He (our Redeemer) is drawing near (Luke 21:28).  

My friend Pete Garcia and I are just completing a book on all of this, to be released in a few months, titled THE DISAPPEARING: Future Shocks That Will Rock the World.

The Apostle Paul says the following to what looks to be this generation:

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18)