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To: aMorePerfectUnion

Did you read any of the links?

Since when are miracles man-made?


31 posted on 02/09/2013 9:00:18 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: Salvation; aMorePerfectUnion
Miracles mean nothing, as even the enemy creates spectacles readily deemed "miracles" by men. He gladly does so to mislead us away from placing our trust solely in Christ so that he might thereby rob us of our salvation.

If miracles were a standard for salvation, why does Paul warn us to be in 2 Thessalonians 2:9 of false signs and wonders?

We must always be on our guard against prelest, against spiritual deception. False miracles are the coal upon which the fires of prelest burn.

We should instead turn our attention to that threefold miracle which truly matters, namely that Christ died to destroy our death, rose again to life to restore us to life, and that by trusting in Him and placing our faith in His finished work we are adopted as sons and daughters by His Father into His Heavenly Kingdom. Anything else is a futile attempt to add to what Christ has already done.

Our good works do not save us, as they are not ours but are rather the grace of God working through us; at the end of the day we are but unprofitable sinners. If we trust in our works to save us, we are dead, because we have taken credit for what God Himself has done. But a saving faith necessarily produces good works or it is no faith at all and we are dead despite our protests that we believe.

I personally have no doubt that these men are saints. Their act of choosing martyrdom instead of conversion to an heathen faith, however, does not in itself make them saints. Nor are they saints because of any miracles which may or may not be attributed to them. They are, rather, saints insofar as they placed the whole of their faith in Jesus Christ and His accomplished work for their salvation; that alone is what makes them saints. Martyrdom is simply perhaps the greatest of fruits that can come of one's faith. But martyrdom does not save us. Insofar as they had courage to stand martyrs and insofar as as they had the grace to actually choose death in the service of Heaven and Christ rather than death in the service of Hell and Satan, they did so solely because God granted it them.

Good deeds do not make saints. Miracles do not make saints. Men sitting on thrones in ancient cities do not make saints. Saints come from the work of Jesus Christ alone and the faith which He grants us to have in Him.

41 posted on 02/10/2013 6:55:36 AM PST by MWS
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To: Salvation

What he said: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2986938/posts?page=41#41


42 posted on 02/10/2013 7:48:43 AM PST by aMorePerfectUnion (Gone rogue, gone Galt, gone international, gone independent. Gone.)
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