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By Neal Griffin
An avid promoter of her particular sect asked if I thought she was lost and going to Hell.
In answer to her question: People will be lost only for one reason and that is if they do not have faith in Jesus. No one is going to be lost because of membership in a fraternal organization, and every church on earth is a fraternal, man-made, organization. That issue is addressed in another essay. In the very words of George T. Jones, who has been a Church of Christ preacher since the 40's: "The only reason anyone is going to be lost is that they don’t believe in Jesus". We are saved by the grace of God by reason of our faith in Jesus. Ephesians 2:8. This brings up a closely related question. What had the Galatians done that caused Paul to write, "Ye are fallen from grace"?.
What they had done was trifle with God’s plan of free salvation. They were attempting to add a provision to God’s entry requirement into His Kingdom---circumcision. To add provisions to God’s free plan of salvation is to renounce faith as the saving factor and put something else in its place. This is why Paul rebuked them so severely. To seek salvation by reason of one’s own efforts is to deny Ephesians 2:8-9. "Salvation does not come from you; it is God’s gift. It does not come from human effort". They had started off on the right track believing in Jesus and His free gift but now Paul writes that they were missing the point. How serious is this? Paul, by the Holy Spirit, writes, "Ye are fallen from grace". Outside of grace there is no hope of salvation and there "remaineth no more sacrifice for sin". Without grace no one is saved.
God does not look with favor on anyone who would be so presumpteous as to add to His entry requirements. He has such disdain for those who would do so that He instructed Paul to write, "ye are fallen from grace". This is serious, indeed very serious and it doesn’t matter what the addition is whether it be circumcision, a cappello music, one cup-no classes, John’s water baptism, or whatever. It is to fall from grace.
If you are a member of a fraternal organization that assesses charges for God’s free salvation you should seriously consider what Paul wrote to the Galatians about falling from grace. Fraternal organizations are relatively innocent until they start changing God’s entry requirements. To deny God’s free gift and impose a charge for it is to deny Jesus and to fall from grace. If you would be saved by reason of your obedience then you are under obligation to keep all of law’s provisions, and this is impossible. Galatians 5:3 and Romans 3:23. We are not saved by our own efforts. Ephesians 2:9.
Come ye out from among them! Don’t have a part in fraternal organizations that renounce faith! Be ye separate! Don’t take a chance on falling from grace!
Please consider these thoughts. I believe them to be in keeping with the Word.
Neal Griffin
10514 Bar X Trail
Helotes, Texas 78023
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