The day on which I wrote this I was told by a friend, not exactly that it was wrong to argue about religion, but he said "I make it a point not to argue about two things, religion and politics." I stated that these were the most important subjects involving men. One has to do with the here and now, the other with eternity! This same fellow will try his best to get folks to believe that a FORD is the best automobile that one can buy, and that if you don't buy a Ford you haven't made a good purchase!

While it is true that some automobiles are better than others no doubt, still, when it comes to transportation one will take you where you are headed and bring you back just about as well as another. Perhaps one is a little fancier and rides and drives a little better, but ultimately it doesn't make that much difference. The same cannot be said about "religion!" It does make a great deal of difference what one believes and practices religiously! Jesus Himself said, "Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). In answering the question "is it wrong to argue about religion?" One needs to see how Jesus the master teacher and one who "did no sin" conducted Himself among the religious folks of His day, especially their leaders. Peter writes that we are to "follow His steps" (1 Peter 2:21). One simply cannot go wrong when one follows the examples which Jesus left for us in His attempts to instruct and to correct folks about their religious beliefs and practices. Not only is this so, but the way His apostles and other inspired teachers conducted themselves is a pattern worthy of emulation, for Paul said, "The things which you both learned and received and heard and saw in me, these things do: and the God of peace shall be with you" (Philippians 4:9 ASV). Why so? Because Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to guide them into "all truth" (John 16:12-13; 1 Corinthians 2:1-13; Galatians 1:10-12).

There are some things about the methodology of Jesus' teachings which I cannot emulate. This being the fact that He could and did know the thoughts of the people's hearts which I cannot know. I must base my statements to folks on what they say and what they teach since I cannot know if they are sincere or have an impure motive for what they say and do. I can know based on the Scripture's teaching when compared to what folks believe and teach, if they agree or disagree. I can say much the same as Jesus did to the Sadducees concerning the nature of mankind and the world to come, "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God" (Matthew 22:29). The Sadducees did not believe in "angels, spirits, nor the resurrection, whereas the Pharisees confessed both (Acts 23:8). The Sadducees thought they had Jesus in a dilemma out of which He could not extricate Himself if He taught that there is life after death; for in keeping with the law of Moses (under which they were living) a woman had been married to seven brothers in succession. "Now in the resurrection whose wife will she be?" It was after this question that Jesus put them to silence with the above statement about their own ignorance. Jesus was if possible, even harder on the Pharisees when He said, "You are of your father the devil,..." (John 8:44). Earlier in the same context He said to them "..if God were your Father you would love Me.." (John 8:42). We too must be able to determine who is, and who isn't a child of God, based on what they say and do in order to know who needs conversion to Christ. The master teacher pronounced several "woes" on the Jews of His day as well for their actions and attitudes which were contrary to God's will for those under the law of Moses, the old Testament (Matthew 23:1-37). He "nailed them" for teaching properly but not being willing to practice what they preached. He "nailed them" for their special clothing and such and the wearing of exalting titles in their attempts to elevate themselves above their fellows. He called them hypocrites for binding their own traditions to the exclusion of that which God required. He even predicted the end of their nation and the turning over of the spiritual leadership which had belonged to the Jews (John 4:19-25) to the Gentiles (Matthew 23:19-38; Matthew 21:42-45). In this parable Jesus teaches so plainly that the Pharisees perceived that He was speaking of them. See (V-45). Jesus even told some Jews that they could not escape the punishment of hell! See (Matthew 23:33). Pretty pointed and plain preaching is it not? Think of it, this is the example left for us by the lovely and loving Son of the living God! This is by one who loved with a love greater than others, one willing to die for His enemies (Romans 5:6-9)! The next time you are prone to condemn someone for condemning other's religious beliefs and practices, stop and think! First of all when you condemn one for condemning, you are totally inconsistent! Two, you are indicting Jesus who knew and knows that truth must take precedence over family, friends or whatever, for only the "truth shall make you free" (John 8:31-32). Jesus argued about religion frequently. He also condemned their error and those who taught and practiced the same. In fact to these same folks He said they were "blind leaders of the blind." Jesus said "both would fall into the pit" (Matthew 15:14). Earlier in this same chapter Jesus condemned the Jewish leaders for altering God's law which commanded children to "honor father and mother" meaning in this case to see to their needs. He said "Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophecy of you, saying, This people honoreth Me with their lips; But their heart is far from Me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men" (Matthew 15:7-9 ASV).

The failure to appreciate the fact that a soul is so precious as to be worth more than the whole world, and all of its wealth, perhaps lies behind some folks unwillingness to take what may seem to be extreme measures to save one person from eternal torment. This same lack of understanding of the value of one soul causes some not to understand why others do and say what they do in their attempts to save a soul from eternal torment. As previously stated, "only the truth will make one free" (John 8:32). Truth must be believed, obeyed, and walked in to suffice to the saving of a precious soul (1 Peter 1:22-25; 2 John 4). Jesus realized the urgency of His mission among men and said "I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work" (John 9:4). With these thoughts in our minds, let us now read the passage cited under the heading above. "For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" When religious error has a friend or a relative of mine in bondage to Satan, how can I be lackadaisical about trying to do something to extricate them from that state? The same is true of the whole world's inhabitants of course. I only put it on the level of a family member or a friend to make my point as vivid as possible. Jesus gave His "great commission" to His chosen apostles and sent them into the whole world, to every creature, saying "...he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16). The apostle Paul, who paid such a great price when converted to Christ (Philippians 3:1-16), understood this like few others perhaps. He said on one occasion that he could "wish himself accursed from Christ, if this would save his Jewish brethren" (Romans 9:3). He said of them "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Romans 10:1-4). These were God's chosen people through whom their Messiah had come into the world to redeem the world. Having misunderstood the means by which God makes men righteous through forgiveness by obedience to the gospel, they remained lost and in need of salvation that is "in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 1:3). Christ was the end of the law. He was that to which their law had pointed, the "seed of Abraham" the fulfillment of the promise of God to bless the world (Genesis 12:1-3; Galatians 3:1-29). This promise was "to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16-17; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4). So you see even God's Old Testament people who had been under covenant to Him and in covenant with Him were now lost since they had rejected the system of redemption centered in Christ, and in His blood bought church or kingdom by the gospel. So, extreme measures were needed to shake them up to this realization so perhaps some of them could be reached. This accounts for the scathing rebukes of Jesus as well as Peter, Paul, and other apostles as they went about "preaching Christ."

Those of us who are accused of "arguing" so often, and who are condemned for condemning, know the urgency of our task, as well as the importance of divine truth, and so we take what sometimes seems to others who know not the truth, "extreme measures" as we attempt their soul's salvation. A person who says that one doesn't have to believe what he believes, nor have to be a member of the church of which he is a member, is admitting right off that he doesn't have the truth of Christ, nor is he a member of the church that was bought at such a great price, the blood of the sinless Son of Almighty God! (2 Thessalonians 2:10; Acts 20:28; Ephesians 5:25; Ephesians 2:10-17). The denominational doctrine of "faith of your choice," and "church of your choice" doesn't represent New Testament religion. No, not at all! The New Testament language is like the following: "I Therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. With lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all" (Ephesians 4:1-6). What "choices" of churches, faiths, Lords, baptisms, and Gods do you see in this context? There remains only the choice to accept or reject that which God has brought into being through Jesus Christ. He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by Me" (John 14:6). When one accepts this premise, one has set one's self apart from all of the Eastern religions which number into the millions, as well as from all unbelieving Jews etc. So, if you think you can "preach Jesus" and leave everyone else alone, you are sadly mistaken and do not understand the very foundations of the religion of Jesus Christ. You likewise have no understanding of the nature of His church or kingdom which God planned from eternity for the salvation of precious souls (Ephesians 3:8-11; 1 Peter 2:3-10; 21-25; John 18:36)).

When we use the word "argue," we do not mean a mean spirited wrangling nor a heated angry "arguing." No, we only mean what Jude means when he, writing by divine inspiration, wrote "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3). Paul was once in a situation wherein he was attempting to convert one to Christ by preaching the gospel. Another fellow was trying to prevent Paul's prospect from learning and accepting the truth. This upset Paul terribly. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, he spoke some scathing rebukes and also struck the fellow blind for a season. Let us read from the pen of the inspired writer, Luke in the Acts of the apostles of Jesus Christ concerning this particular event in history. Surely we cannot get better at our task than were inspired teachers! PAUL CALLS A MAN A CHILD OF THE DEVIL AN ENEMY OF All RIGHTEOUSNESS A PERVERTER OF THE RIGHT WAYS OF THE LORD!

"And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesus: Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, (who is also called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, And said, O full of all subtility and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand" (Acts 13:6-11). Does this sound like "faith of choice" or "church of choice" to you? You know it doesn't. The truth must be taught and those who oppose it must be dealt with. Jesus and His apostles dealt with it quite severely to say the least! Again, can we have better manners or methods of operation than Jesus Christ and His apostles as we go about preaching the gospel of Christ? Obviously we do not have the powers of the Holy Spirit that were possessed by first century disciples and so cannot strike folks blind etc. We can follow the precedent they set in their methodology of teaching. We can "reprove, rebuke, and exhort..." (2 Timothy 4:2-8). We can "contend earnestly for the faith once (for all) delivered" (Jude 3). In doing this we will not win any popularity contests, but we may be able to save a "few" precious souls in the process (Matthew 7:13-21).

Just how does one become a Christian? How can one be "reconciled unto God in one body by the cross" (Ephesians 2:11-16)? Since many will be told by the Lord Himself come judgement day, "depart...I never knew you..." It is A Question of Great Importance! The world wide commission as given by Christ Himself, breaks down into the following logical steps of full conversion to Christ: Hear: Romans 10:17; John 6:44-45; Mark 16:15

Believe: Hebrews 11:6; John 8:21-14; Romans 5:1-2-2

Repent: Acts 17:30-31; 2 Peter 3:9; Acts 2:38, 40-41

Confess:Jesus as "The Christ:" Romans 10:9-10

Be immersed for forgiveness of sins: Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16; Romans 6:3-5; Galatians 3:26-29; 1 Peter 3:20-22 Be faithful unto death: Revelation 2:10; Hebrews 10:35-38.

If you have yet to "obey the gospel of Christ" (2 Thessaloians 1:6-10), the blessings that are "in Christ," cannot be claimed by you. The gospel must be obeyed as the believing penitent confesses Jesus as Lord and is immersed into His death and raised to walk a new life in Christ Jesus (1 Peter 1:22-25; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 16:25-26; Romans 6:3-6; 16-18; 2 Coprinthians 5:17-21). As Jesus extended His invitation long ago, we extend it to you again so we may assist you in "putting on Christ" (Matthew 11:18-30).

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