DEADLY PRESUMPTIONS

DEADLY PRESUMPTIONS

To assume anything can be very dangerous. I know for I have gotten myself into some jams when I thought I knew what I was doing but didn’t. Some of the “events” were only partially damaging but some were “whoppers”. One was my understanding that God was going to save me if I was a bit better than I was bad. I know now how foolish that was, but before 1971 it was my only hope. How little I understood the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

For anyone reading this, I trust you will learn that the Good News found in Ephesians 2:8-10 declares, “For by grace have you been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God and not of works, less any man should boast. For we are His workmanship and created in Christ Jesus for “good works” that God Himself has prepared for us to walk in [do].”

Allow God to take you to the cross and you will see that Jesus did the work that saves mankind. He died in a horrible way for us. His Blood is full payment for all sin, including yours and mine. Once we understand this we are less apt to be presumptuous. Instead, we are so grateful we want to serve Him with our lives fully surrendered to the Holy Spirit.

The greatest of all deadly assumptions is to say, “Because I believe in Jesus I’m saved.” If that were true, every demon would be saved. Satan believes in Jesus and trembles. It’s far more than to simply admit that Jesus lived a long time ago. It’s, Jesus is God [Emmanuel] and in obedience to the Father He humbled Himself to die so mankind could be spared the coming wrath of God.

We must repent, or turn around, after coming personally to know the Love of God. We must “receive” Jesus as our Lord. John 1:12, “To as many as those who receive Him gave He the power to become the children of God, even those who believe in His Name.”

The word receive means a lot more to me than to some. I see Jesus before His disciples, after His resurrection, breathing on them so they could inhale His Spirit. Do you remember Thomas wasn’t there, but when he returned he found the disciples really excited claming Jesus had come? He didn’t believe it and his punishment was an 8 day wait living in their exuberance. That must have been very hard.


When Jesus returned He said, “Thomas put your fingers in my hands and your hand in my side.” He fell upon his knees making the most important statement of all the disciples, “My Lord and my God”. It’s more than interesting Jesus didn’t correct him. Then Jesus breathed upon Thomas so he could be “born again” too. If you’re born again you received Jesus experientially like them and became a new creature.

You’re no longer in danger of judgment and condemnation for Christ lives within you empowering you to live for Him alone. It’s presumptuous for us to think we can go on living like before. We can’t live two lives anymore and if we attempt to the Holy Spirit will correct us. If he doesn’t we’re still lost.

Salvation is a big event in our hearts and in Heaven. The angels will rejoice for another soul has been saved. The keepers of the Books are told to erase the record of our sins and to give the erasure to the Father. God then takes it and tosses it as far as east is from the west saying, “I will remember his or her sin no more.” Folks, that’s better than all the riches on earth. When we are accepted we should experience “something“. I shed a bucket of tears for I had many sins. My heart was way to filthy for Jesus to live.

One of the worse assumptions for new Christians is to think they can still drink alcohol. In a jail ministry I experienced up close what alcohol can do to a human. You might call it “lawful” to drink beer or strong drink but a deputy won’t when he stops you and smells it on your breath. The same thing goes with drugs. If anyone thinks smoking pot is OK, they should tell it to Jesus and not to me for I know it isn’t. Satan uses these things to enslave, even some born again Christians.

It’s foolish to think that you can live without food or feeding upon the scriptures. Faith comes by reading and hearing them. We can’t please God without faith. [Hebrews 11:6] So we shouldn’t assume we can be a servant without a daily discipline of reading from His Word. If you aren’t reading, try the Amplified version of the Bible and if you aren’t pleased, I’ll buy it back from you. So far no one has been willing to surrender theirs.

In His Service,

Capt. Ben Marler


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