BELIEVE TO BE SAVED

“…what must I do to be SAVED? And they said, BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be SAVED.” Acts 16:30, 31

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt BELIEVE in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be SAVED.” Romans 10:9

Needlessly to say, most people don't really base their belief on the Holy Bible because if they do, they should have believed it. It is also a waste of time to talk on them about literal and allegorical interpretation of the Scripture and who has the right to interpret it. In addition, it is more than useless to speak with people who don’t even read the Bible though they are proud claiming to be Christians. A great irony isn't? People who call themselves Christians don’t read the Bible and don’t believe on it at all but trust only on their man-made traditions, church dogmas, and ecclesiastical leaders. Some call this as “culture.” Accordingly, they believe that it is something that is hard to change especially if deep emotion has grown with it. Anyone who will try to deal with it is like he/she is touching a very sacred part of the ego that can result to a very sensitive reaction. Nonetheless, this people love to talk about “open-mindedness” but most of the time that cliché stays a preaching than a practice. If they know that you have a different church affiliation, they will look down on you as if you are a heretic, a non-believer of God, a devil, a bigot, an undeveloped species, an enemy of the “church,” and a fool. You see, indifference, close-mindedness, and prejudgment are still there. A high towering wall has been built as a gap between diversities of belief. Is that what they call “open-mindedness”? I am not pleading for “open-mindedness” to the reader because of the fact that most don’t have that really, let alone reading this article in the first place. I ask, however, to please read the Holy Bible, examine your faith, study the assertions of your leader, and be reasonable than emotional in your response. Now, going back to the issue, is it necessary to BELIEVE to be SAVED?

We, who have trusted the Bible (AV1611) and took it as our final authority in faith and practice, believe every single word of it – the jots, the tittles, and even the punctuation of it. If the Bible says, “Believe,” then believe. If it says you will be saved after believing then you will be saved indeed. It is as clear as a crystal. No deep apologetic, no high sounding words, and no elitist group who need to redefine or interpret it for you. Moreover, that truth will stand by itself whether you believe it or not. It is not even needed to be defended because it will forever endure.

The issue of whether we need to believe God for our salvation is not already a matter of religion but a matter of a relationship between God as the Creator and humans as creatures. It is not already an issue on whether you believe the one who denies it but whether you believe on what God says in His Holy Word. God is not visible on our mortal eyes and the only way to know Him more is through the scriptures that He has left us. However, people will say that the Bible is only written by man so why believe it. I will not be sorry to tell this, that utterance is a plain ignorance. It has been normal to some that when they are confronted and convicted with the Scripture they will deny it by saying that it is just written by men with errors and biases on it. Indeed, it is a show of historical, biblical, and spiritual illiteracy. Do you feel insulted? Well, your culturally adopted predisposition has been touched I think. Instead of reacting emotionally, let your intellectual capacity work for you. I cannot give you in this short article evidence on the truth that the Bible is the word of God though written by man. Simply think that God have intended to write His Word through man, by man, and for man, with the language that they can understand. You cannot separate God and His Word. Believing God is believing His Word.

Jesus says, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:1). Believing God is fundamental to someone’s belief (theist) so it would be absurd to deny that especially for salvation. It also follows that if we believe God we also need to believe Jesus, the only begotten Son of God. Why does Jesus ask to believe Him? Simple, because He is the Savior and it is needful for us to believe Him to be saved. And that’s what Silas and Paul answer on the question of what must someone do to be saved (Acts 16:30). Their answer is simple and plain, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). Our Lord is also named Jesus because as the angel Gabriel says, “he shall save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). The Apostle Peter also says that “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). With these verses, it can be concluded that someone really need to believe Jesus for him/her to be saved.

Centuries ago, the Prophet Jonah has asserted that “Salvation is of the LORD” (Jonah 2:9). Because the Lord is the Savior it will be needless to say that we need to trust Him to be saved. After all, you cannot call someone as Savior if He cannot save at all, let alone calling someone a teacher without the ability to teach at all. To say that “Salvation is of the LORD” is to say that salvation is only on a person not on a church, a religious system, a tradition, a work of charity, and a dogma. It is erroneous to say that you need to be a member of a particular local, institutionalize church to be saved. Salvation is in a person – of the LORD. No need to elaborate the arguments given by these people who believe that a specific church or religion can save and that outside of it there is no salvation. A church is not a savior. Religion is not a savior. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior. God says, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” We need to look on Him who can save us not on them who can not. The only person who has suffered on the cross of Calvary to pay the price of our sin by His own precious blood is Jesus Christ. No pastor, no priest, no minister, no apostle, no saint, no church, and no angel who has been crucified for the whole world to be saved. The Apostle John says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The reason why believing Jesus can save us is because a promise of eternal life will be granted for those who will trust on Him. Jesus also says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Christian readers, let us stand strong in the truth of the Word of God in the midst of lies. Continue to preach the gospel of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. People, even your love ones, will reject you, insult you, and leave you but Jesus will be with you always even unto the end of the world (Matthew 28:19, 20). Amen.

BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND THOU SHALT BE SAVED. GLORY BE TO THE HOLY FATHER IN THE HEAVEN OF HEAVENS.