Can you be saved by having the devil beaten out of you?
Question:
Please do not dismiss my mail to you as it is very serious and I am honest as well as discreet, as I am sure you will be the same.
I am looking to visit you at a local church, or to your ministerial home or suitable confessional venue.
Firstly let me say I am 'partly' religious but want to believe in all its values, particularly with respect to being saved and repenting for my sins by use of the rod as a correction. Ideally, I would like my confessions to be heard but be made to repent by use of the rod as I believe God, or Christ's, a representative may be authorized to 'beat the devil' out of a sinner as it were. May I quote the following relevant text:
The rod is an instrument for correction and discipline. It inflicts pain with the design of awakening sorrow for wrong-doing, and of inducing reform. It only destroys when we refuse to be saved. Such is the rod in an earthly father's hand, and such it is in God's hand. The rod on us now is a sanguine war, the fruit of a wicked rebellion, but God's hand holds it, and with it chastises a wicked nation. If we will hear the voice of the rod, we shall be saved -- if not, we shall be destroyed.
As I said, please do not dismiss my request, but please reply if you are hopefully able to discuss this matter further. Or have a suitable discreet place for listening to my confession and hopefully using a rod of correction.
Answer:
A quote of an article regarding the sermon of a denominational preacher in 1861 is not the way to find salvation from your sins. "Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations-- "Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle," which all concern things which perish with the using --according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh" (Colossians 2:20-23).
You state you want to be saved from your sins, but you never ask what God requires of you. To be perfectly blunt, physical punishment has never been taught as a means of obtaining salvation from your sins. You cannot punish yourself into righteousness. Only God can forgive sins and that will only come when you are willing to submit to His will. Punishment exists to make a person who thinks he has done no wrong, to face the reality that he is in the wrong. The threat of punishment exists to deter people from committing wrong.
If you are interested in being saved, get out your Bible and start reading the passages mentioned in the following articles: "When is one saved?" and "How to Become a Christian"
