The one trustworthy sign of sincere faith in Christ is godliness of behavior. Apart from godly behavior there is no salvation because godly behavior is salvation—salvation from sin.

Making eternal residence in Heaven the goal of the Divine redemption instead of the transformation of the believer into God's image; setting forth acknowledgment of theological truth as the ticket to eternal residence in Heaven; and contrasting faith and godliness such that salvation has to do with the profession of facts of theology rather than with the bringing forth of a new creation in the human personality; are serious errors.

These three errors, combined with the related doctrine of the pre-tribulation rescue of the saints so that—unlike all other Christians of history—they will not suffer, have destroyed the testimony of the Christian churches.

The reasoning of today's Christian scholars is that if we go to Heaven by election, by the mercy of God, by the kindness of God, on the basis of our acknowledgment of theological truth, then how we behave ourselves is not essential. If we are saved by Divine grace, godly character is desirable but not essential to our eternal residence in Heaven. If God loves us so much that He will accept our worldliness, lusts, and self-seeking and consider us to be righteous, then He certainly is willing to remove us from Antichrist and the great tribulation.

Deductive reasoning has been applied to favorite "key verses" until we have made most of the teachings of Christ and His apostles superfluous and meaningless.

We need not heed (it is taught) what Christ said about our laying down our life for the Gospel's sake, or about the necessity for enduring to the end, because it is "not by works of righteousness which we have done."

We need not be concerned (it is taught) with what the Apostle Paul said about the covetous not entering the Kingdom of God because it is "not by works of righteousness which we have done."

It is not a scriptural, strong, or effective argument to reason that while we cannot lose our salvation whether we choose to serve Christ or choose to live our own life, yet we ought to try to please Christ because we "love" Him. This is a weak attitude. It accounts for the lukewarm moral condition of God's flock.

The Apostle Paul did not teach it would be nice if we showed our appreciation for God's love by trying to behave ourselves. Paul taught that if we Christians live in the appetites of the flesh we will die spiritually. (Romans 8:13)

The Christian would be morally stronger if he returned to the standard of the devout Hebrew or the disciplined monk rather than to continue to use the name of Christ as an excuse for his filthy, self-centered behavior.

To be continued.