What Shall I Do To Be Saved?, St. Ignatious Syrian Orthodox Church Dallas, TX.

Several months ago, I went to have lunch with my Christian friend. Since it was the lent season, I choose to have vegetarian food. In seeing this, my Christian friend remarked, "What kind of Christian are you? I have never heard of Lent. Thank Jesus, that I am not a Christian of your type!" I explained to him that I belong to one of the oldest church, established by our Lord and thereafter shepherded by St. Peter according to the apostolic faith. The church had neither added anything to it nor taken away anything from it. It has always held the faith defined by the Three Universal Synods of Nicea, Constantinople, and Ephesus in the 4th and 5th Century. In hearing this, my friend was awestruck.

This event made me think about the millions of Christians all over the globe who have never heard of our true apostolic faith. If you look around, preachers are everywhere, from television and radio to the Internet. They propagate 'sectarian theology' based on their beliefs and on occasions for their own personal gains.

When one examines these events, they see a minister teaching one interpretation and thereafter, another minister teaching another, but in the end, they all claim that these facts have been revealed to them by the Holy Spirit. If so, this would either mean that the Holy Spirit interprets the Gospel differently for each minister, or they are simply not speaking the truth nor guided by the Holy Spirit. If this is so, they are then deceiving the true followers of Christ. Isn't this what Jesus Christ Himself warned about? But common man is not to blame. He is bombarded with all kinds of teachings and therefore does not know what to believe. He finally comes to the conclusion that all Christians are "more or less the same."

Most people ask me to explain the differences between the various churches? In their eyes, they see the common link in all the Christian churches, for they all preach from the Bible and accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. But I must remind you that differences do exist between the Christian churches. Let me start off with an example. For instance, there are churches that accept homosexuality. Most of us will agree that this is against the teachings of the Bible, but these churches also use the same Bible to justify their teachings! Nevertheless, we know enough about the Bible to disprove this interpretation, for it is very evident. On the other hand, there are so many other issues that we are not so sure about and assume that it does not matter so long as I pray and live a good life. But none of us can live a perfect life acceptable to God, because the only person that ever lived without sin is Jesus Christ. So we all are sinners. And the result of sin is death. The Almighty God knew this and therefore sent his only Son, who essentially established One Church for our salvation. So our choice is to either follow or not follow His original plan. So what is this plan? I hope that this article will answer this question and help you find the truth among the chaos.

"As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.” There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day".

Jesus Himself warned us that most people will not reach Paradise, and exhorted us in Matthew 7:13-14: "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Have you ever thought why Jesus says so?

There is a tendency among the western Christian scholars to propagate that Christianity originated in the west and it became mettle of it. It is far from the truth. Christianity reached the west after it reached all of the Middle East, Africa and even India. Christians there were persecuted more than anywhere else, but persecution made them stronger and faithful which preserved the word of God as it is.

Rev. Curian is probably the greatest scholar of the apostolic faith and the Aramaic Syrian language (the language spoken by our Lord, and His mother, and apostles). He rightly point out the errors that crept into the Bible translations, and shows what the true apostolic faith was, and how the modern faith has deviated from the apostolic faith.

In addition to his translation of the Holy Bible from Syraic and his commentary on the New Testament, he has authored 42 books in English, Syriac and Malayalam. He had been a member of the Board of studies in Syriac in Kerala and at Gandhi University for 39 years. He is the recipient of numerous awards and titles from the Patriarchs of Antioch. Even at present in his 97^th year, by the abundant Grace of God, he is writing books for the Glory of God.

I hope this book through the Holy Spirit guides the reader to the true teachings of the Apostles.

The prison keeper asked this question to St. Paul. (Acts 16:30). The answer was “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

A similar question was asked to St. Peter (Acts 2:38), by the people who were 'cut to the heart'. The answer was “repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

This is the crux of the advice from the apostles for the above question. But they were advising the adult non-Christians.

a) "And she shall bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Mat 1: 21).

b) “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord. “ (Luke 1: 21)

d) “Nor there is salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. “ (Acts 4:12)

Let us look at some of the people who were described as saved in the book of Acts. This gives us a good starting point for our discussion on salvation.

i) Zaccaus and his family, because of Our Lord’s visit to his home - (Luke 19:9)

3) For salvation one has to believe with his heart for righteousness, and confess with the mouth (Rom 10:10). God did not appoint us to wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Nor there is salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. “(Acts 4:12). There is much more than a single line answer for the above question. But let us be concise for the time being.

b) His resurrection is the strength of Christianity (1 Cori 15:17). “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile: your are still in your sins."

c) He came to save the sinners. He is the only one who declared “I did not come to call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17). (This is important because there are other people believed to be incarnate of God, who came to punish the sinners in other religions)

d) He is the only one who was sacrificed for the sins of the world, and for that he gave his life as a ransom for the salvation of many. (Mat 20:28)

e) Everyone before and after Him were born coincidently, that is not pre-planned. Every event related to Christ was prophesied by the prophets David, Isaiah, Micah, Hosea, Zechariah, Amos, Malachi, Jeremiah etc. Below are a list of Old Testament prophets who prophesized about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

PROPHESY	VERSE
His coming	Isa 2:2, 28:6, 32:1; 35:4, 42:6, 49:1, 55:4, Micah 4:1, Zech 3:8
About the time of coming	Mala 3:1
The forerunner, who prepares the way. (John, the Baptist.)	Isa 40:3, Mala 3:1, 4:5
Place of birth	Isa 40:3 Mala 3:1
About the scholar’s arrival	Isa 60:3, Mala 3:1, 4:5
The journey to Egypt	Hosa 11:1
Child Homicide	Jeremiah 31:15
The Miracles	Isa 35:5, 6, 42:7, 53:4
The Church cleaning	Psalms 69:9
The Entry to Jerusalem	Psalms 8:12, 118:25, Zech 9:9
The friend will cheat	Zech 13:7
For 30 silver coins	Zech 11:12
Jude’s end	Psalms 55:15, 23, 109: 13
The tiller of soil (Potter’s field)	Zach 13:15
His silence	Psalms 38:13, Esa 53:7
The ridicule of the Jews	Psalms 35:15, 21, Esa 53:7
The crucifixion	Psalms 22;14, 17
The sour juice	Psalms 69:21
Prayer of the Jews	Psalms 109:4
The suffering at Cross	Psalms 22:1, 31:5
Will be with convicted	Isa 53:9, 12
The changes in the nature	Amos 5:20
His robes were shared	Psalms 22;18
His bones will not be broken	Psalms 34;20
The piercing	Psalms 22:16 Zech 12:10
The resurrection	Psalms 16:10, 30:3, 41:10, 118:17, Hosa 6:2
The Heavenly ascend	Psalms 16:11, 24:7, 68:18, 110:1, 111:19

f) He is the only one who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.“ (John 14:6)

h) He is the only one who promised His presence till the end of the world. (Mat 28:20)

i) He is the only one who said that He will die, resurrect, and come back a second time.

Yes, lots of them. They did more harm to the church than the Gentiles! Since we understood that faith is a necessity for salvation, let us see what faith is. Is it just a moral living, or praying seven times a day, or is it charity?

a) “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen“ (Hebrews 11:1)

e) Faith is through words and ears (John 17:20, Acts 8:12, Roma 10:14, 15, 17, 1 Cori. 3:5)

g) Those who believe in him will have eternal life. (John 3:15, 16, 36, John 6:47, 5:24)

h) “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who, believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also, and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father.” (John 14:12)

It is not enough just to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he came to save the sinners. (In order to prevent hunger it is not sufficient just to believe that food is good and that eating it will satisfy hunger). Further more one has to:

d) One should believe everything that he taught before and after his resurrection. (Acts 1:3). (Yes, He taught after His

1) “And I also say to you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church. And I will give you the keys of the Heaven. And what ever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and what ever you loose on earth will be loosened in heaven.” (Mat 16: 18, 19)

2) Whatever He has decided for the church administration should be accepted. (John 21: 15-17).

3) The power to loosen (forgive) any one from their sins has been given only to the Apostles. (John 20:23)

4) One should believe that only the Apostles were given the right to teach and baptize (Mat 28:19).

6) One should be a member of the church whose head is Jesus Christ. (Acts 2:47) “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved “

7) One should be committed deeply to the doctrines of the Apostles. (The book of Acts)

9. If so, did the people who believe in the day of Pentecost or the Prison Administrator, believe in all the above, before joining the church?

During the initial few years of the church, there was no written Bible. Apostles preached and taught by word of mouth. They asked the prison administrator to believe in Jesus Christ before teaching him about what Jesus taught. Initially the Apostles were entrusted by Jesus Christ to baptize, teach, and make as his disciples (in that order) (Mat 28:20)

Now we have learned that the apostles admitted people into the church by baptizing and teaching, and that there was no Bible during the initial period. Since there were no written teachings, let us now examine the formation of the Bible, and how the believer’s were during this period.

If we look at the time in which the New Testament Books were written, we will get an answer to the above question. Let us tabulate the time in which the New Testament books were written.