Atheist to Theologian Discussion Forum

Satan LOVES Good Morals

Satan isn’t opposed to good morals. He’s opposed to Jesus Christ.
Most Christians Miss this point. Satan doesn’t care if you’re a good person. Satan doesn’t care if you volunteer at the local food bank, help old ladies across the street, mow other’s lawns for free, etc., etc.
Satan ONLY cares WHO you bow your knee to. ← Read that again. Satan only cares who YOU bow your knee to.
Satan has convinced many that being good and having good morals is enough.
Good morals are TAUGHT.
You go to church every week. You put money in the tithe plate. You thank the pastor( or priest) for the well prepared sermon. You go home and partake of a Sunday family BBQ and think everything is perfect. Then, suddenly and without warning, a massive heart attack hits you. They pronounce you DOA.
Here’s where it gets interesting; you open your eyes to darkness. It’s dry, hot and very dark. Whether or not there are demons there tormenting you is not for me to say. I haven't been there(nor do I ever want to go). God knows. And He’s been trying to warn everyone for quite some time.
Remember, the Pharisees were pious leaders of the church. They did many public good deeds. Yet, Jesus called them the devil’s children.
It is written,”I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father but by me.” Only through Jesus do we gain access to God, His(Jesus) Father and, by adoption, our Father.
Also, it is written: “For by grace are ye saved, through faith. Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
These scriptures set the theme for salvation. You MUST surrender to the saving GRACE of Jesus Christ to get into Heaven. All the good morals and good deeds mean absolutely nothing without that saving grace.
Think about it.
You’ve been a good person all your life, but never surrendered to Jesus. You will still be cast into outer darkness, into the lake of fire “..prepared for the devil and his angels”. You will fall short of the reward God offers to everyone who lays their sins at the foot of the cross and accepts, through faith, the saving grace of God.
At the throne of judgment the books are opened. These books contain every deed and thought you’ve had since your birth. Everything is laid bare before all. Then another book is opened, the “book of life”. This book contains the names of EVERYONE who surrendered themselves to Jesus through faith. Everyone who accepted God’s grace. Everyone who allowed the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and followed His guidance throughout their lives. Only those who’s names appear in the book of life will get to enter into God’s rest and spend the rest of eternity with Jesus.

Satan has deceived many into thinking that they don’t need to surrender to Christ. Satan has convinced many self-proclaimed Christians that they don’t need to obey the things Jesus said concerning salvation.
Having morals and doing good deeds is a good thing. Without obedience to the word of God, good deeds and morals will get you nowhere.
People who reject Jesus thinking they’re doing ok on their own end up swimming with Satan in the lake of fire and spend eternity wondering where they went wrong.
Many Christian leaders today are just like the Pharisees, thinking good deeds and pious attitudes will get them into Heaven. They lead others to think the same way. All are blindly walking toward the cliffs of hell, never seeing the truth until it’s too late.
Remember:
Good deeds won’t get you into Heaven
Going to church every week won’t get you into Heaven
Sacrificing yourself for others won’t get you into Heaven
Only the blood of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, the price paid for your sins, will get you into Heaven.
Lay your sins and cares at the foot of the cross; accept through faith that Jesus died for you; obeying scripture are what WILL get you into Heaven. The blood of Jesus is the ONLY thing that can wash away your sins and make you become a new person.

Ric;
You rightly point out that the Pharisees were pious, did public deeds, and were rebuked by the Master. and you are 100% correct that good works while excluding Christ is absolutely futile. However, you leave us hanging, because you never mention the need to follow God's Laws (The Holy Covenant).

Christ condemned the Pharisees because they were self righteous, instead of God righteous. Self righteousness is making your own rules and declaring yourself righteous for following them. That is what the Pharisees were doing! In other words they traded in God's Holy Covenant Laws to uphold their own traditions.

You quote "not of works, lest any man should boast" to dismiss obedience, but you completely ignore what the Master actually said to those who claimed to follow Him. In Matthew 7, He didn't say "good deeds and morals mean nothing." He explicitly warned: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." And He turned away those who relied on a vague profession of faith while ignoring His law, calling them workers of lawlessness (anomia—transgression of the Torah).

True faith in the Master is not about bypassing His instructions under the banner of "grace alone." If you love Him, you keep His commandments John 14:15: "If you love me, keep my commands.". Surrendering to the Master means yielding to His authority, and His authority is the Torah He gave at Sinai and walked out in perfection. Trusting in a blood sacrifice while deliberately throwing out the Master's instructions is the very definition of a false security blanket. James 2:17 KJV: "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."

Revelation 22:14 KJV: "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."

Grace is absolutely what saves us, but Grace is conditional! The condition: One must Love Him, and if you truly Love Him you will follow His Laws. You absolutely cannot work your way to heaven by following His Laws, However, you most definitely CAN work your way to Hell by rejecting them!!!!