What Must Christians Do to Be Saved?

By Donald Werner

What must Christians do to be saved? Yes, I know that question implies that Christians are not saved. Why would I imply such a thing? I got that idea from reading Jesus’ words in the New Testament.

And, it’s not that Christians are bad or evil people, for many are very moral and devout to their religion and even very religious. But in spite of being moral and religious, their eternal life is in peril because they are deceived by their Churches, and I can prove that using Jesus’ words.

And it’s not that the Christian Churches intentionally deceives people, but they themselves are deceived. They are the blind leading the blind on the Broad way leading to destruction. And that great deception ultimately came from the ‘great dragon’ or the ‘serpent of old’ in the Garden of Eden.

Jesus said, “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, …. And all the world marveled and followed the beast” (Revelation 12:9, 13:3). These verses are speaking of the deception within today’s Christian Church, as I will make clear in this book. And that’s the same deception Eve heard in the Garden of Eden.

The beast, the image of the beast, the mark of the beast, the great harlot, her many daughters, Babylon the Great, the false prophet and even the anti-Christ are not future events and future characters, they are present and active on earth today. Many people are wrongly waiting for characters and events to take place, not knowing that they are here today.

What must the Christians do to be saved? As we read in Revelation 14, those who were redeemed are those who “follow the Lamb wherever he goes”. What does that mean for us? It means that Jesus is to be our only teacher (Matthew 23:10), and currently he is not the only teacher of those within the Christian Church. Jesus said that we will be judged according to how well we kept his teachings (John 8:51, John 12:48-49, Matthew 7:24-27). Yet, Christianity neglects some of Jesus’ most important words, and to neglect those words will cause us condemnation.

What teachings of Jesus are neglected by Christian doctrine and will cause Christians to be condemned? To properly explain it all, we will go back to the Garden of Eden, and finish off in the Book of the Revelation. If you are a truth seeker, you will be amazed at what I share in this book. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what we will cover in this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: May 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9781312514669

Book preview

THE PREFACE

What must Christians do to be saved?  Yes, I know that question implies that Christians are not saved.  Why would I imply such a thing? I got that idea from reading Jesus’ words in the New Testament.

And, it’s not that Christians are bad or evil people, for many are very moral and devout to their religion and even very religious.  But in spite of being moral and religious, their eternal life is in peril because they are deceived by their Churches, and I can prove that using Jesus’ words.

And it’s not that Christian Churches would intentionally deceive anyone, the problem is that they themselves are deceived. They are the blind leading the blind on the Broad way leading to destruction. And that great deception ultimately came from the ‘great dragon’ or the ‘serpent of old’ also called the Devil and Satan in the Garden of Eden.

When Jesus said, "So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him…. …. And all the world marveled and followed the beast"  (Revelation 12:9, 13:3). These verses are speaking of the deception within today’s Christian Church, as I will make clear in this book. And that’s the same deception Eve heard in the Garden of Eden.

The beast, the image of the beast, the mark of the beast, the great harlot, her many daughters, Babylon the Great, the false prophet and even the anti-Christ are not future events and future characters, they are present and active on earth today.  Many people are wrongly waiting for characters and events to take place, not knowing that they are here today.

What must the Christians do to be saved? As we read in Revelation 14, those who were redeemed are those who "follow the Lamb wherever he goes". What does that mean for us?  It means that Jesus is to be our only teacher (Matthew 23:10), and currently he is not the only teacher of those within the Christian Church.  Jesus said that we will be judged according to how well we kept his teachings (John 8:51, John 12:48-49, Matthew 7:24-27).  And, yet, Christianity neglects some of Jesus’ most important words, and we are told that the neglecting those will cause us to be judged and condemned.

What teachings of Jesus are neglected by Christian doctrine and will cause Christians condemnation?  To properly explain it all, we will go back to Creation and the Garden of Eden, and finish off in the Book of the Revelation.  If you are a truth seeker, you will be amazed at what I share in this book.  And that’s just the tip of the ice berg of what we will cover in this book.

End

THE INTRODUCTION

Having been in the Catholic Church for 35 years and in Protestant Churches for 35 years, and having attended a major Protestant Seminary, I came face-to-face with flaws in the doctrines of the Christian Church.  The issue is, Jesus’ words and several Christian Church Doctrines are not compatible – and they cannot be reconciled.  It took me a long time to see those flaws, for I was blind to them because I was completely indoctrinated with Christian Church doctrines since I was a child.  You could say that I was drunk on the ‘wine of Babylon’. 

But, I have overcome that drunkenness and through study I now look at it objectively, from the outside looking in. And I see other deadly flaws and deceptions so I just have to share what I found, and hope that others will be set free from the false teachings, by Jesus’ words which I will share in this book.

Here’s what I will cover in this book;

In Chapter 1 – We will read of the Creation event, how and why God created us and then He allowed the serpent beast into the Garden of Eden to test Adam and Eve.  The serpent beast deceived Eve telling her that if she would reject YHVH’s command, then she could be her own god determining for herself what was good and evil and, he added, there would be no eternal consequences for spurning YHVH’s Divine authority. As Adam and Eve were tested, we too will be tested and that testing ultimately determines whether or not we are redeemable and fit for God’s Kingdom.

I will show you that the very same deceptive lie the serpent beast used to deceive Eve has come into the Christian Churches through Paul’s epistles to test us.  And it has causes millions upon millions (all the world) to be deceived into setting aside YHVH’s law and the Prophets, unwittingly being their own gods and thus they are presumptuous sinners practicing lawlessness, and then their worship is in vain. Jesus said, "So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him…. …. And all the world marveled and followed the beast"  (Revelation 12:9, 13:3). And, yes, I will show you why this is speaking of the Christian Church.

In Chapter 2 - We will read how the Parable of the Broad way and Narrow way perfectly reflects what is going on in the Christian Church today.  The deceived are Christians who are on the Broad way headed for eternal destruction.  And Jesus tells us what that deception is, who is doing the deceiving and how we can avoid it. And I will show you that it’s the same deceptive lie the serpent beast used to deceive Eve in the Garden of Eden.  Why is Satan trying to deceive us?  God allows it for our testing.

In Chapter 3 – From the Book of the Revelation we will read God’s commentary on the Seven Churches, and it isn’t pretty. These Seven Pauline Christian churches, followed the teachings of Paul’, as found in his epistles, and have lost their way, being corrupted, compromising, idolatrous and lawless.  Then we read a compressed version of Christian Church history reduced to four horses: white horse, red horse, black horse and pale horse. 

Revelation Chapter 14 then tells us how to avoid that deception so we may be one of the ‘redeemed’.  There we also read of some special traits, beliefs and characteristics of the redeemed. And there we also discover the identity of the Great Harlot, her many daughters, the beast, his image and Babylon the Great, and we find that God’s solution to the deception is the ‘Everlasting Gospel’.

In Chapter 4 – we will learn from the Scriptures that God’s sacred name is YHVH (Yahoveh) and YHVH tells us that He is one, not a Trinity.  Jesus affirmed that (Matthew 4:10, Mark 12:28, Luke 4:8, and John 17:3) and YHVH affirmed that (Exodus 20:2-3, and many other verses).  And thus worshiping a trinity, or Jesus, is idolatry and the Scriptures tell us that no idolater will enter the Kingdom of God.

In Chapter 5 – we will learn why Paul’s epistles teach lawlessness.  Paul was a Pharisee, and he taught what the Pharisees believed.  Jesus warned us about the teachings of the Pharisee (Matthew 16:12), calling them ‘lawless hypocrites’ (Matthew 23:28), yet the entire Christian Church, ‘all the world’, is following the teaching of a Pharisee named Paul, and they are deceived. Jesus said, "So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him…. …. And all the world marveled and followed the beast"  (Revelation 12:9, 13:3).  All of this will all make perfect sense after reading this book. 

This book will reveal to you truths that you will never hear in a Christian Church or a Christian book, because these truths are not complementary to the Christian Church – but rather point out her errors which were caused by her rejecting some of Jesus’ words in order to embrace Paul’s words. I have no agenda in writing this other than to help people learn and grow in the ‘faith of Jesus’ (not ‘faith in Jesus).  You will be shocked and amazed by what you read in this book.

If you are a Christian, this book will challenge you, from the Scriptures, to change your perceptions about the Christian Church, Jesus and YHVH God. 

Donald Werner, [e-mail]

Chapter 1

THE BOOK OF GENESIS

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN THAT RELATES TO OUR WORSHIP AND SALVATION?

What do we need to know about what happened in the Garden of Eden as it relates to our worship and salvation?  When we understand what really happened in the Garden of Eden, we can be aware of what is happening in the Church today.

The beast, his deception, his image and his mark, as found in the Book of the Revelation, all find their roots in the Garden of Eden story.  We have to understand that story to understand who the beast is, who the image of the beast is, what is their great deception and what is the mark of the beast, and then we will be able to identify the Babylon the Great which God commands us to get out of.

So, let’s take a good look at it…

ADAM AND EVE AND THE SERPENT BEAST

Genesis 3:1-5, "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which YHVH God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?

2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’

4 Then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

WHAT WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND BEGINS IN EDEN

To understand the Gospel, to understand Christianity, to understand Judaism, who the beast is, who his image is, to understand sin and man, to understand the beast’s deception, and to understand our need to keep God’s laws, we must to go back to the beginning, back to the Garden of Eden.  The story of man’s creation and fall begins in the Garden of Eden where mankind was tested and failed.  When we understand that story we will have an understanding of mankind’s lost condition today, and the reason why God is continually testing us and what mankind must do to pass the test and be saved (redeemed).  We recover from failed test by true repentance. So, we must begin with Our Creation.

OUR OWN CREATION

In the beginning God created the heaven and earth with a Garden of Eden.  It was there, in the Garden of Eden, on the sixth day that God created man and woman in His own image (Genesis 1:27). Being in God’s own image means that mankind was created with the ability to think, to reason and to make his own decisions.  Mankind has the ability to make decisions based on rational thinking, irrational thinking, emotions, sensory perceptions, feelings, influence of others, flip of a coin, based on one’s own experiences, etc.  So, mankind has the freedom and the ability to make logical decisions, illogical decisions, good decisions or bad decisions. In other words, mankind has free will.  No other animal species has that type of free will, for animals are all pre-programmed for their own survival and the survival of the species, they are born with those built-in instincts.

And it has to be noted, that mankind also has a strong built in survival instinct as well, and because of that we are by nature, like the animals, self-centered, selfish beings and we, by our own human nature, watches out for ‘number one’ – as other animals do.  We read in Genesis 6:5, Then YHVH saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  As it says in Ephesians 2 "and were by nature children of wrath and King David said in Psalm 51 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me".  And King David was not speaking about the sin of his mother, he was saying that he, and us, are conceived and born with a sinful nature – it’s in our DNA. 

However, we as humans, being in the image of God, have the ability to think and reason, and overcome that selfish instinct and even become unselfish people who give generously, and we can even become self-sacrificing beings.  The process by which we die to our ‘selfishness’ or ‘self-centeredness’ and are raised to a new character is sometimes referred to as being ‘born-again’.  And that’s what YHVH God calls us to do. He actually commands it if us and enables us to forsake our selfish natures and live unselfish lives, in compliance with His moral standards, laws and Commandments which we are to live by.  John 3:3 NKJV, "Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. And he said, Then He said to them all, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." (Luke 9:23).  To ‘deny self’ is to ‘crucify’ our selfishness, our self-will (self-authority), i.e., humble ourselves, daily by submitting to YHVH’s authority. (Jesus spoke YHVH’s words with YHVH’s authority according to John 12:49, 14:10).

When we live according to our human nature, we are selfish and self-centered beings – putting self first – in that state we a sinful beings.  We, in that state, are our own gods, deciding for ourselves what is good and evil. However, we can overcome our natural selfish instincts and live unselfishly by putting God and others first, but it is unnatural for us to do so.  And when we do that as a lifestyle we are reflecting the nature and character of God.  Our lifetime goal is overcome ‘self’, or selfishness daily, and to become more like God – instead of being our own gods.  Keeping the Commandments of God and selfishness or self-centeredness are not compatible. 

While we can be more like God, we do have a tendency to slip back into our self-centered survival mode – from which we must daily struggle, and repent to overcome.  We may hunger and thirst for righteousness, and seek it, but we will never fully achieving it, yet God gives us credit for our honest and diligent efforts (Matthew 5:6).

WHY WERE WE CREATED?

We were created in God’s image, but why were we created?  Mankind was created with a purpose, and that purpose, according to the Scriptures, is to honor YHVH God with our love, worship, giving Him glory, and praising YHVH God, our Maker (Isaiah 43:7, 43:21, Exodus 20:2-3, Psalm 95:6, 150:6, Deuteronomy 6:5). 

YHVH God is planning on populating His future eternal kingdom, i.e., the new heavens and the new earth, with people who love, serve and worship Him (Isaiah 66:22-23, Zechariah 14:22).  His kingdom will be populated with those who, by their own free will, are willing to submit to YHVH’s Divine authority while they are yet on this ‘old’ earth.  YHVH tells us that those who transgress His laws and commands, i.e., will not submit to His Divine authority, will be dead corpses on the face of the earth (Isaiah 66:24, Malachi 4:3).  So, to love, serve, obey and worship YHVH God we must, by our free wills, overcome our selfish natures, demote our own authority and submit to His Divine authority. 

No king would want people in his kingdom that will not submit to his authority.  Earthly kings don’t always get to choose who will be in their kingdom, but YHVH God does get to choose.

TRUE WORSHIP IS ONLY BY OUR FREE WILL

While YHVH God, our Maker, requires our love, glory, worship and praise, YHVH God knows that if we don’t do that out of our own free will, it is technically forced or involuntary and then it is worthless because it doesn’t honor Him.  So, in order for it to be of our own free will we must have other choices to choose from, and that requires that we must have temptations to select some authority other than YHVH God.  It’s only when we have other options, or temptations, that we will need to make a conscious choice as to whom we will serve, praise, love and worship.  Whoever we choose to obey, as our greatest authority, that is our true god, and that’s whom we will serve, praise, love and worship.  Who will be our greatest authority: YHVH God, Jesus, ‘Self’, the church, or some other being?  Only when we, by choice of our own free will, choose to honor, serve, love and worship YHVH God as our greatest authority, or our supreme authority will it be acceptable and pleasing to Him.  If YHVH God is not our supreme authority our worship is in vain (Mark 7:7-9).  Whomever we select as our greatest authority is also our true god.

We have many authorities giving us commands, laws and rules.  To obey an authority is to honor it, and to disobey in authority is to dishonor it. And we cannot worship an authority which we dishonor, because worship and dishonor are opposites.  True worship is not singing, chanting, lighting