Imagine that you have an expensive, new puppy that you love very much. And you know that, living in East Texas, if you don’t immunize this new member of the family regularly for heart worms, he will contract them and die a horrible, slow, and painful death. So, you dutifully go to the vet at the scheduled intervals, pay the fee, and have him immunized- because you love him. He grows and matures into “man’s best friend.” A couple of years later, you discover he has heart worms and will not survive.

How could this have happened? You protest, “I went to the vet, paid for the immunization, and did exactly what I was told!” You question the vet and he confesses that all the other dogs he vaccinated for heart worms are infected also. He states that he is very sorry, but the vaccine was bad- in fact,it was little more than water.

Now imagine... That it wasn’t a loved pet, but your soul! You “got saved” by doing exactly what you were told was necessary. You “go to church” every Sunday morning, listen to the sermon, and then try live according to the doctrines of your church. And yet, when you arrive at judgment, you are told “Depart from Me, you practiced lawlessness.” Matt.7:23

You protest your condemnation, “Lord, I ‘got saved’ by doing what the preacher told me to do. I ‘went to church’ every Sunday morning, and I tried to live the way the my church said that I should. Where did I go wrong?” Then the Righteous Judge simply replies, “Not every one who says to Me ‘Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father, who is in heaven.” Matt. 7:21 Your vaccine was bad, in fact, worthless. Much more than the loss of a beloved pet, what an eternal tragedy! Now do we understand...

The Danger of False Security that False Religion provides? The “dog story” is basically true- told to me by a friend here in town. At the same occasion, he told me of a conversation he had with a family member of his on “religion.” My friend tried to explain to his relative that differing denominations “are not the enemy, Satan is!” Perhaps so, but I also pointed out to him that false religions were just as ineffective as false vaccinations- both are worthless when it comes to preventing tragedy.

The Danger of False Security that False Religion Provides What did you do to become “saved”? “Accept Jesus as your personal Savior”? -Do you realize that no convert to Christ was ever told to do so to be saved anywhere in the New Testament? -It is true that we are judged personally, Rom.14:12. -But Jesus is the Savior of “the body,” Eph.5:23 -What were converts told to do to be saved? >Believe and be baptized, Mark 16:16 >Repent and be baptized, Acts 2:38 >Received His word and baptized, Acts 2:41 >Believed and were baptized, Acts 8:12-13 >Ordered to be baptized, Acts 10:48 -None were told to “Accept Jesus as your personal Savior and then be baptized when it’s convenient.”

The Danger of False Security that False Religion Provides What did you do to become “saved”? “Accept Christ and pray through”? -Do you realize that no convert to Christ was ever told to do so to be saved anywhere in the New Testament? -Saul of Tarsus spent three days praying & fasting, Acts 9: And yet, when the man sent by God to tell him what he “must do” (cf. Acts 9:6) arrived, he was told to stop delaying, “Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.” “Have a Salvation Experience”? -Again, consider Saul of Tarsus. He: >Was blinded by Jesus in a bright light, Acts 22:6,9,11 >Spoke directly to Jesus, Acts 22:7-8 >Received instruction from Jesus, Acts 22:10 >And yet was told to be baptized, Acts 22:16!

The Danger of False Security that False Religion Provides What have you done since becoming “saved”? “Little or nothing, since ‘Once Saved, Always Saved”? -Do you realize that no convert to Christ was ever told any such thing? And that every book of the N.T. refutes “once saved, always saved”? -Gal.5:4, “you have fallen from grace” -Heb.3:12 “Take care, brethren, lest there be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from God.” “It really doesn’t matter, as long as your ‘honest and sincere’ in your belief and practice”? -Isn’t this exactly what Jesus was refuting in Matt.7:21? -That it does make every difference what you believe/practice? -My friend honestly and sincerely believed he was protecting his dog from heart worms. What was the reality?

The Danger of False Security that False Religion Provides My friend may have indeed been right… Denominations may not be “the enemy”. But they are a “tool” of the enemy Satan if they give you a worthless vaccination against eternal damnation! Such is exactly what anyone is that gives a false security based on the flawed information of personal opinion and human reasoning instead of a “Thus saith the Lord” from the Word of God! cf. Galatians 1:6-8