"...and the truth shall make you free"

[Steven_JD]

Hello everyone! 

It's so encouraging to find a group of born-again Christians who are rejoicing in their love of God, without doubt or uncertainty and being fully dutiful toward His word.

It is all too common in today's world to see hypocrites, contradictors, agents of mischief, deceivers, tricksters and dark arts magicians attempt to draw our hearts and minds away from that which is Good.

I have had a fairly sudden jolt in my spiritual focus, having recently encountered the artifice of common law and increasing my knowledge of the corrupt legal systems and how they operate, especially in the times of the Covid tyranny, and what we as natural-born beings can do to counter their unlawful systems of treachery and deceit.

To give a brief background: I was baptised as a baby and received an NKJV edition of the Bible as a present at my christening (little did I know how distant this was from the true Word of God, alas!); I must confess to never having took Christianity seriously throughout most of my life, never really going to church or mixing in Christian circles; yet I immediately acknowledged the term 'Church-ianity' used by Chris J.E. Johnson when referring to the modern-day faith. It is very apposite and shows how the authoritarian zeal manifests strongly in religion today, not just in governments.

Much of my recent intrigue into Christianity and the Bible occurred during summer of 2020. I encountered a Youtube commentator named Marcus, who had a channel called Servant King. He described his personal experience with the legal system when he understood the reality of his 'personhood', his 'strawman' and the utter disregard that the legal system has for our essential being. He had a series of programs, essentially a video lecture series, one titled "Confusion Programs" (detailing his journey into Natural/Common Law and his personal experience with authorities) and the other "Unravelled Programs" (linking his experiences to the ultimate book of Law aka the Bible).

It turned my mind towards seeking out deeper truths in Christianity and I followed the advice of some other authors and commentators and looked into the Eastern Orthodox faith for a very brief period, before life resumed its normal pace and it all took a back-step.

I started reading my Bible more recently and read some passages of Luke before bed, and then encountered a number of synchronicities regarding passages I had read or situations which referred to the verses, even hearing the name Luke more often! In the past few days, as we were approaching Lent, I thought it would be a great idea to start educating myself upon all things Christian, and as I've been deeply involved in researching all of the fallacies regarding the Covid tyranny and what the soulless technocrats are attempting to impose upon humanity, I knew there were more mysteries surrounding the Bible yet uncovered, so I kept an open mind and followed my heart.

Well... little did I know I would encounter such an intense wave of knowledge! From what I have found pouring through the resources on CLE, it appears to be that around 99.9% of supposed "Christians" are basically living on some form of lies and selfish deceit! As it is mentioned repeatedly, anything that is not His word is not from God and He does not approve. It is simply staggering to witness the lies that have been spun over countless generations and how we have ended up almost completely disconnected from the root of the Bible's truth and Christ's teachings.

It's a little traumatic knowing that nearly all of the churches, all of the so-called 'believers' are on a path divorced from the virtues they claim to hold, incorporating pagan symbols and traditions with glee. Learning about the pagan origins of the Crucifix and Fish symbol has been a wild experience, alongside Easter/Christmas and the many other mislead traditions.

In light of this sudden awakening, I have ordered myself the King James Version and I believe it is of the 1769 edition as recommended so graciously in one of the articles on CLE! It is newly-printed but the preview pictures seem to indicate it is of this version and I am hoping to start a Bible Study which can lead me to understand God's word and get closer to Him.

I have been lost for many years trying yoga, meditation, setting up altars with Buddha and crystals and all sorts, not knowing where to find truth, love and communion with God.

After reading Chris's experience fasting for 14 days, I can see that he does indeed take his faith very seriously and I suspect that anyone doing that for fun would have stopped after only a few days!

I don't think my family or friends would even begin to understand the choices that I have made to commit to a Bible study but as it said:

Blessed are ye, when man shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.
-Luke 6:22

I look forward to hearing from anyone who has any advice on where to go from here as a Beginner and someone curious to get more involved!

I have a busy schedule but will do my best to check back regularly and see if I have received any replies.

Thanks,
Steven

P.S. And a very special thanks to anyone who read through this far! 
I appreciate any support you can offer!

[Kenneth Winslow]

Hello Steven,
I appreciate your well written and interesting introduction.
However, I think we all would like to hear a couple of basic things.
What about Jesus Christ?
And though you mentioned being baptized and learning quite a bit, what about salvation? Are you born again as Jesus said that we must be? If so, please tell us about what happened.

[Jeanne]

Hi Steven,

What Kenneth said, but I also noticed that you listed your beliefs as 'Other' so I was wondering if you consider yourself a Christian or just 'checking it out' at this point.

I believe two of the most important teachings Chris has done are Is Repentance Part of Salvation?

http://www.creationliberty.com/articles/repent.php

and Why Millions of Believers on Jesus Are Going to Hell

http://www.creationliberty.com/articles/whymillions.php

I would encourage you to have a look at those as soon as possible if you have not already done so.

I look forward to hearing more from you and getting to know you better.

[creationliberty]

Steven, you're not going to like what I'm about to say. I just want to preface that to try and prepare you. If I take what you just said at face value, this reads out like the typical false convert I have seen time and time again.

In fact, your testimony is almost precisely what Jesus described in the parable of the sower:

But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
-Mat 13:20-21

The word 'anon' means "quickly," and such men receive the word with joy, rather than grief. Repentance is grief and godly sorrow of one's wrongdoing, not a "change of mind."

Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
-2Co 7:9-10

Learn more: Is Repentance Part of Salvation? (Part 1)

Since you said you were familiar with Luke, Jesus opened the understanding of His disciples before His return to heaven, after He had accomplished everything He set out to do, and gave them commandment of what they were to teach:

And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
-Luke 24:44-47

Learn more: False Converts vs Eternal Security (Part 1)

Everything Christ did culminated in the doctrine of repentance and remission of sins. Again, the word 'repent' generally means "grief," and in the context of mankind, it means "godly sorrow of one's own sin." The word 'remission' means "forgiveness," which means there is no forgiveness of sins, there is no grace, without humility in the godly sorrow that is repentance.

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
-James 4:6

If you understood your own sin, and you understood what Jesus Christ had done, then you would also understand why your introduction post makes no sense to us. (i.e. Two others on this forum already noticed the same thing I noticed before I got to it.)

For example, if you were walking across the street and did not see a fast approaching vehicle, but another man pushed you out of the way, he got hit by the car, and died... what would be your reaction? Is your reaction to "keep an open mind and follow your heart?" Is your reaction to investigate the laws of physics and discover how you were deceived about the inner workings of the automobile industry?

Those of us who know Jesus Christ don't just know His sacrifice; rather, we understand it.

But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
-Mat 13:23

I know you think you understand things now because you've studied the ins and outs of corporations, but that is not how the Bible says men are converted. I would challenge you to find anywhere in Scripture where men were converted by saying, "Well, I was born into this world a Christian, but I didn't take it seriously. Now I'm serious."

There are many more things that could be said, but I want to keep focus on the basics, and try to demonstrate to you that your thinking is not in line with Scripture. You said:
"I knew there were more mysteries surrounding the Bible yet uncovered, so I kept an open mind and followed my heart."

Following your heart is exactly the problem:

He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
-Pro 28:26
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
-Jer 17:9

I can think of no more to say for the time being; only that everything you have said so far points to false conversion, and as the others so accurately pointed out, there was nothing remotely pointing to Jesus Christ in what you wrote, which strongly indicates a man who follows the feelings of his heart, rather than the truth of Jesus Christ. I hope those teachings might help, and since you said you had been listening to teachings, I gave you links to audio teachings; the links to the written teachings are in the descriptions of the videos if you need them.

Finally, I noticed that you cut out a small phrase of John 8 in your title, rather than understanding the context. The truth alone does not make men free, but rather:
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
-John 8:31-32

[Steven_JD]

To All above who replied (Kenneth, Jeanne + Chris),

I appreciate your replies and especially Chris for really piecing apart my words and being fully honest with me.

Like Chris has pointed out, I am directly in line with the "typical false convert" described so eloquently and so accurately.

I have so much to uncover regarding Christ's teachings and I'm also trying to manage many other things in my life right now, so I'm clearly not ready for this. I've never read through the Bible before so I'm out of my depth, really. I read through a number of articles on the website but did it rather hastily with other things on my mind, so I haven't truly absorbed the gravity of the words. I was, as Jeanne said, just 'checking it out' - I haven't devoted myself.

I will keep on studying Scripture and following the links you have provided. I will try to get my head around what has been said here. But once again, I am grateful for your replies and for showing me a way forward.

I didn't know what I was in for when sending this message but now I realise there's much I don't know at all! You've shown how I took things out of context and had no grounding when quoting Scripture. I suppose this is part of a process.

I need to take a step back and make sure I know what I'm saying when I say it! I'd do better reading through the forum a bit and seeing what others have posted. Like I mentioned, I'm trying to juggle a lot at the minute so this was probably not the best time to get into it all.

I suppose I was deeply curious but there is a big difference between curiosity and being born again. I'm amazed I got such quick replies and I can see this is a strong community, so I am grateful to have found that.

To summarise... I think I'm in a lot of doubt and I am uncertain where to take myself from here. I've took a somewhat cursory glance at a lot of the information on CLE so far and haven't really fully absorbed much of it. I have taken on many projects recently so I'm feeling snowed under a little already, but I want to know more.

[Laura]

Hi Steven,

Welcome to the forum. I think it's great that you have taken an interest in finding the truth of God's word. I want to encourage you to pray to the Lord Jesus Christ for understanding and repentance, as it is only He that unlocks our understanding of Scripture and gives us repentance unto salvation. Keep reading your Bible and studying. Christopher's teaching are very helpful too. The others have already provided recommendations for a good place to start. If you have questions or want to discuss a certain topic, there are many Christians on here who have knowledge of the truth.

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
- James 4:6

Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
- 2 Timothy 2:22-26

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
- Matthew 7:7-8

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
- James 1:5-7

[Ellie]

I didn't know what I was in for when sending this message but now I realise there's much I don't know at all! You've shown how I took things out of context and had no grounding when quoting Scripture. I suppose this is part of a process.

Hi Steven,

I am glad that you did write a post because you will not typically ever get sound biblical rebuke in church buildings. Nobody here is going to pat your head and pretend that everything is fine when it isn't. I am glad that you seem that you have accepted correction so far, as that isn't always the case. I do hope you continue to look into the teachings on CLE and specifically the ones that were already mentioned by others in response to your post--those are good ones.

Open rebuke is better than secret love.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
Proverbs 27:5-6

Feel free to ask questions if you have any. We are glad to discuss things with those who are open to hear.

[Jeanne]

Steven, I know you said you are busy and have a lot going on in your life right now, but I hope you don't put this issue on a back burner somewhere intending to come back to it later. Your future security in eternity is much too important to put off! None of us is guaranteed the next breath we take, and it could all be taken away in an instant and at that time, it will be too late.

Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

You only get one shot at determining where you will spend eternity and I don't know about you, but hell is NOT a place I would want to end up!

[Marthina]

Go deep into repentance teaching, slowly, line by line....   For the first time in my life it all makes sense to me now.   It is heartbreaking realising the truth of how sinful my heart really is...  the Lord has truly been longsuffering in my life.