(part two)

A Lesson of True Christianity 

by C. H. Fisher

In the first part of Abiding in the Vine, we considered the metaphor that Christ used for His teaching in John 15. It is clear from the statements He made that if we are truly connected, we will either bear fruit or reject the spiritual urgency and mandate to bear fruit. The life from Christ flows into us when we are grafted into the Vine, and if we are fully surrendered, the fruit will come forth. There is no barrenness in a Christian who has accepted the Divine Nature that flows through the connection.

Consider this important and relevant passage in 1 Peter.

(2 Peter 1:2-9 NKJV) Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, {3} as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, {4} by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. {5} But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, {6} to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, {7} to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. {8} For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. {9} For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

Peter writes that if we are full possessors of the divine nature, we will never be barren of unfruitful. If not, we will become blind and forgetful. There is no other place to go from that condition but to ungrateful, non-worshipful, unfaithful, and eventually backslidden. No one can convince me that mere profession of faith in Christ is the sole qualification for membership in His Body, grafted and secure in the Vine. One is not secure in the Vine without becoming a fruit-bearing branch. In this, the Scriptures are so clear that one has to be willfully indoctrinated to the contrary in order to resist their explicit truth.

I want to extend a word of caution here for people who believe in Unconditional Eternal Security. I will venture to estimate that the majority, maybe as much as 90% of the "laity", cannot explain from the Scriptures why they believe that doctrine. Most UES adherents I have discussed the matter with simply fall back on their denomination, as if the denomination were God or the Holy Word of God. Other ones will declare that it is their belief and they have no desire to change, even if they cannot find scriptural evidence for it. Then there are the few that will quote a scripture out of context. Most of these people are genuinely surprised when I quote scriptures that destroy the myth of UES. However, the doctrine of Unconditional Eternal Security, otherwise know as Once Saved, Always Saved, or Once in Grace, Always in Grace, is very addictive for the following reasons.

First, it provides a false comfort when a person does not wish to bear fruit or is living a sinful lifestyle. It also provides comfort when a family member or friend dies while in a state of sinfulness. I have witnessed many people who died in sin pronounced at their funerals as full members of God's kingdom and entrants into heaven simply because their names were found on a church membership role. Consequently, the younger generation has no respect for commitment or full surrender to God. They view salvation as holy fire insurance rather than being grafted into the Vine to become a fruit-bearing soul. Fruit bearing, for the few who have decided that they must bear some fruit, is relegated to duties in the church meetings.

Therefore, I conclude that UES does not provoke professing Christians to bear genuine fruit as an extension of the Vine, which is Christ. It does not harmonize all the scriptures that declare that we must bear fruit. Consider the following verses in Ephesians.

(Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV) And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, {12} for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, {13} till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; {14} that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, {15} but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head; Christ; {16} from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

We mature into Christ when we are truly grafted into the Vine. The whole body growing out of Christ grows itself because it is joined and woven together by what every joint supplies, i.e., the effective working of every part doing its share. This confirms what Christ teaches in John 15. What if one part does not do its share? What if one part refused to be joined and woven with the other parts? What if one part refuses to grow, remaining an unproductive little twig when it is supposed to be a branch? According to UES proponents, there is no problem, and they continue to be part of His Body as withered, dead, unproductive, and rebellious, branches. This means that the Apostle Paul does not mean what he writes, that much of the New Testament is ambiguous concerning true Christianity, flexible, and open to the whims of individuals who wish to alter it to fit their lifestyles. It also means that the Vinedresser, which is God, the Father, has no work to do. This effectively makes His title is honorary and not meant to be taken seriously, which is impossible. If one believes these things, one is in serious need of love for the truth, the lack of which love will bring on a great delusion during the Great and final apostasy.

Second, is addictive because it makes peace with the flesh. The flesh is spiritually lazy. Flesh is lazy because it despises spiritual work. Mentioning the word "work" will have EUS proponents shouting, "Ah ha, he's advocating salvation by works!" Then they can quote one of their famous non-contextual verses in protest of my teaching.

(Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV) For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, {9} not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Of course, The Apostle Paul was speaking of the works of the Law, not an actual laborless salvation. Even a cursory reading of the Scriptures harmonizing the relative verses proves this point without question. Some Bible scholars go as far as to declare that we cannot even use our faith to be saved, as that would connote a work. The Apostle James, considered by many to be the leader of the early church, wrote that faith without works is dead. It is most certain that dead faith cannot save anyone.

(James 2:26 NKJV) For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

The reason for these aberrations in spiritual logic is because individuals want to impose a doctrine on the text. Instead of exegetically searching the whole counsel of God, they hang on a particular verse, and sometimes a mere sentence, and force-mold the rest of the Word around it.

Here is what God's Word actually presents. We are saved by faith, but not dead faith. It is not by the works of the old Law, or works that are similar to or based on the works of the old Law. Instead, we are saved by a living faith. That faith (GK. Pistis) is manifested as complete trust in God. The works that make it alive unto salvation are twofold. First, it is confession with the mouth that Jesus is both Lord and Savior. Secondly, it is belief in the heart, or core and depth of the being, that He is both Lord and Savior. If belief is not in the core of a being, then substance cannot flow from the Root. Belief in Christ as Lord and Savior that comes from the core of an individual is faith. This faith is not based on the Law (works), but on trust. As such, it is a work, but not the works of the Law.

Once may ask, "but where does grace come in?" The grace, or mercy, is manifested by the "whoever believes" of John 3:16. In other words, we did not earn His invitation to salvation by the works of the Law, by our goodness, or any other quality that we might possess. God's great mercy offers salvation to everyone who believes regardless of who, what, or where they are. Each person has an inherent free moral choice, which means he or she can accept or reject God's offer. The salvation is free—it cannot be earned or bought. However, it requires that a person exercise living faith to possess it. The two qualifications in Romans 8:9-10, are proof enough of that.

(Romans 10:8-11 NKJV) But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach): {9} that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. {10} For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. {11} For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."

Exercising a living faith does not violate the Scriptures. It does not do damage to grace, and it certainly does not create a works-based salvation. However, it does mean that salvation produces works or else it is a dead salvation and worthless for all spiritual and eternal purposes. This is patently clear in the same chapter in Ephesians that is used to promote UES.

Now let's view Ephesians 2:8-9 in full context.

(Ephesians 2:8-10 NKJV) For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, {9} not of works, lest anyone should boast. {10} For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

The graft (salvation) is free, but the abiding is conditional. That condition is that we produce fruit (works). Also, notice that Paul says that we are created in the Vine for fruit production. God prepared the fruit before salvation was even offered so that we become productive as grafted members of His Vine. We were not joined to the Vine to hang dead and unproductive. Imagine that the Root sends supplement to the branches, but the branches refuse to produce because they are certain that they are connected by grace and not works. Why then should the branches produce? Why should anyone work for God? UES proponents declare that we should work for God, not to earn salvation, but because we love Him. If faith is a work, then love is much more a work. Love without works is as dead as faith without works. In fact, works is the proof of love. Just try loving someone without ever saying it, showing it in any way, and then explain to yourself why they should believe that you love them.

This nonsense of living as branches grafted to the vine of Satan because we are not required to live as branches grafted to the Vine of God is truly nonsensical. However, one might declare, "I believe, and that is enough." In fact, I have witnessed to many very secular and lost souls that claim a belief in Christ. The believe that their belief in Christ will save them at the point of death from hell, and provide them entrance into God's kingdom. One beer-drinking song goes as follows:

"Prop me up against the jukebox if I die,

I want to go to heaven, but I don't want to go tonight."

Of course, the idea of one remaining upright on his feet preventing true death is so farcical as not to even deserve a response. Such nonsense is a result of the great propagation of UES in America. Its fruit has inseminated even the secular minds of people that have had some association with UES church meetings.

Will people who believe in UES go to hell? Not necessarily, but only people who allow its deadly work to be completed in them. It is a fact that not all people who believe in UES are sinful and fruitless. I would reply that the majority of them are fruitless and even antinomian. The most of the ones who appear fruitful simply work in church meetings, which is Churchanity. UES adherents who actually bear fruit do not believe in the logical conclusion of their doctrine. For example, a leading Calvinist once confronted me concerning one of my articles. He stated that I was confusing Calvinism with hyper-Calvinism. I agreed to research the matter more closely and correct any mistakes. After researching Calvinism and hyper-Calvinism, I found the latter to be the logical conclusion of the former. The end of a thing is its logical conclusion. If I teach that God does not really care what we do or are because we have made a profession of faith, then the logical conclusion is that flesh will eventually dominate the overwhelming majority of my students. If it really does not matter what God thinks, and there are no consequences of my actions no matter how wicked they become, then where is the impetus to be a living branch connected to the Vine?

We have to understand who we are and what is expected of us. We are branches connected to the Vine, which is Christ. We have His holy nature flowing through us. We have His spiritual power, His mind, His character and will, and all the rest of His essence flowing through us. If we have all of that and are still wretched, miserable, blind, forgetful, and unclean, and barren, there is absolutely no way that we can still cash in a claim of an inheritance with the saints.

The branches are supposed to supply one another according to Ephesians 4.

(Ephesians 4:16 NKJV) from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Dead branches do not supply anything. Instead, they add weight to the vine. Not only that, if they are lukewarm, or partially dead, they will still suck the nourishment from the Root, taking away from the rest of the productive branches. In most UES churches, which are nothing more than meetings in buildings, there is an enormous dead weight. It usually falls on the back of a pastor and a few people who help manage and operate the meetings. Everyone else simply attends, sits and listens, and goes away forgetting most everything they heard. The overwhelming reaction to church meetings is to do absolutely nothing. No one is changed even if they attend the meetings for fifty years or more. They get older, more settled, and gentler, and all the other characteristics of growing old, but they are not changed by the Word of God and they do not produce fruit. I might add that in many churches where UES is rejected in doctrine, most professing Christians are accepting it in practice.

How does one produce fruit? Producing fruit is a natural (or supernatural) byproduct of the divine nature in us. We have to acclimate to the Divine Nature and appropriate it deep into our nature. The branches appropriate the succor that flows from the Root and behaves naturally, as the process dictates. No grape vine produces thorns and briars. Further, we do not have to grind and labor at trying to bear fruit. We must simply accept the substance that is flowing from Christ through the Holy Spirit. Accepting does not mean merely containing, but assimilating it.

This must begin the moment we are delivered from the world system, and continue throughout our lives. This is where many professing Christians cease to grow and subsequently refuse to produce. They wish to be saved, have assurance of heaven and avoidance of hell, but they do not wish to fully become one with Christ. The change is radical. It is as near death as one can get without the spirit leaving the body. God will challenge everything in us that prevents fruit bearing. Carnal people literally hate this form of Christianity, even though it is presented in God's word as true Christianity. They will gravitate to church meetings where they can be content, consoled, and drift into the vast lake of complacency, eventually descending into the dark chiasm of apathy.

When the divine nature of Christ begins to flow into us, we have to be willing to accept the divine impetus to change. It takes every ounce of our will and energy to accept change that goes against the worldly and fleshly formation of our nature. One small factor can cause us to fail during any part of the process of change, if we even begin it at all. If we are told that it does not matter if we change or not, since we are eternally secure, that one factor will be most than enough in most cases to resist change. Change is so resisted by us because it goes against our natural grain. We are what and who we are because of our natural proclivities. Imagine God impressing on a very talkative person that he or she will have to curb the tongue. The individual does not wish to curb the tongue because excessive talking feels natural to his or her flesh. If it did not feel natural, then the person would have been a quiet individual by nature. I know people who naturally do not enjoy speaking. Other ones can virtually talk the horns off a Billy goat.

The individual has to first accept God's singling out of their natural characteristic. Then he or she has to decide whether or not to acquiesce to the exposé. Refusal to submit and change is rejection of the substance that flows from the Root. After years of rejecting the spiritual impetus to change in every area of ones life where God marks hindrances to productivity, a fruitless life will be the eventual result. On the other hand, every time we accept His will and allow the process of change to go forward, we will be changed by a series of trials and lessons from the Holy Spirit and the Word. Often, our errant or aberrant characteristic will cause us much trouble. The moment we surrender it, Satan will use every means to flare it up again. It is during this battle that we become strong and effect the change.

After we begin to flow in the process of change, God will carefully and gradually mold or convert us into the fruit-bearing person that He wishes us to be. At any point along the way when we refuse to accept His input, we are stymied in both growth and productivity. I might add that the change gets more difficult the longer it goes on. However, there comes a point where we have fully surrendered to His complete work. From that point on, change is not only less difficult, it is actually anticipated with joy. It is with great sadness of heart when I think of how Christians have been cheated out of the best God has to offer. They have been tricked into becoming dead branches. The factor that keeps me going, keeps me trying to incite people to surrender fully to God, is the hope that many people are hungry for true Christianity. These people will not view it as a burden to surrender to and obey God fully. They will consider a great source of joy and fulfillment. These are the ones who long to be grafted to the Vine, and become the fruit producers that God intended for His people.