Was Paul wrong about the Gospel of Salvation?
Were animal sacrifices and Atonement against God intentions?
No need for confession of lordship and belief in the resurrection?

The First question we need to ask ourselves is from where does righteousness come, and for whom does it exist?
The second is, why did Christ teach “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, poured out for you” if all we need to do is try to be good and keep the law?     Thirdly, why did Peter endorse Paul in his letter?

 

There is a growing trend on the internet of rejecting the idea that all we need to do to be saved is to confess Jesus as Lord, and believe in the Resurrection, as Paul asserted in Romans 10:9. However, Paul did not say this is all you need to do, and an unbiased read of the book to the Romans chapter 8 will show what Paul clearly believes about righteousness. These ideas are fueled by NDE’s in which deceiving spirits inform people that there is no judgment, all we need to do is learn for our mistakes and be loving (whatever love means).

Both John the Baptist and Jesus taught that once God’s Spirit enters us we exchange our fallen values for God’s own values and his ways and his righteousness will shape our hearts, bringing us back to God. The alternative is to continue in our own filthy rags and try to impress God, (or wait for a secret gnosis to be imparted from the gods.)
Of course we are judged by our works, but how exactly can a demon worshiping, rebellious, arrogant, tortured soul be free from destructive feelings and actions? Not by learning secret knowledge, or even by realising how evil they are. Heart change only happens after humility and in response to the fact that Christ took our punishment. Trust in God’s salvation changes one’s values, but our determined effort to refine our own values produces frustration and self-righteousness.

—“Jesus said, if you love me you will keep my commandments”. (John 154:15)
— “Look, the lamb of God who takes away the worlds sins…He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit…” (John the Baptist)
In summary: we are to repent, submit to God’s goodness and trust for his resurrection life within us–exactly the same as Paul taught.

 

Peter Endorsed Paul

“Paul also wrote you with the wisdom God gave him. He writes this way in all his letters, speaking in them about such matters. Some parts of his letters are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction”. – 1Peter 3:15-16

I desire Mercy Not Sacrifice

This whole idea that God never wanted animal sacrifice and that the cross was not an act of atonement misses the point that atonement is a device that helps us to produce the kind of heart posture that God does actually want. So atonement and repentance and commitment work together, not one against the other.
Prov 21v3: To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the YHWH than sacrifice. It should be quite obvious that this verse is not saying that sacrifice is unacceptable or that God does not want it. Samuel’s words, “To Obey is better than sacrifice” come right after God judgment of Saul because Saul does not wait for Samuel the prophet and priest before making animal sacrifices.
But Samuel declared: Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams. 1Samuel 15:22
When Jesus told the Pharisees, “I desire mercy not sacrifice”, he was quoting Hosea 6:6 “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings”. Micah is making an extreme comparison, he is attempting to state God’s case as strongly as he can in the light of the fact that God himself has instigated sacrifice. He goes on to state God real intentions in v8: He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

Yhwh is the God of moral paradox, complementary opposites. He gives Moses the law then he fulfills the law himself. He gives animals sacrifice then he says he prefers repentance and humility. The truth is that a person who humbly walks with God needs neither the law nor sacrifice because their faith and obedience are really what God is after. Law and sacrifice are devices for the masses to use when approaching God, and these give us legal grounds for this approach, and confidence in his presence. They keep the Devil from owning our soul on the basis that we use Jesus’ blood as a defence against Satan’s ownership of us because of our sin. When we sin we believe Satan’s lies, and because attitudes are spiritual, our acceptance of a bad attitude gives bad spirits legal access to our souls because of the spirit attached to that bad attitude.

These verses in Psalms show God’s primary objective, or the real heart of God, yet consider that the cross is the ultimate device for getting people to have a broken and contrite heart. When sinners realise what God has done for them and how Jesus willingly became God’s lamb it produces gratitude and humility.
“For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings”. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. Psalm 51:16-17
Apostle John was close to God’s heart and he wrote these words:
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. … If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1John 1:7,9
Far from being contrary to Christ’s real message Paul wrote about God’s true intention for us:
That Christ may dwell in you hearts through faith (Ephesians 3:17)
As Paul wrote, in Romans 5 that Abraham was justified by his faith, not by his works; this was before the law and the atoning sacrificial systems were set in place. This is God’s original intention, but God needed to take humanity through roughly a 1000 year process in order for Christ’s atonement to make sense to us rationally, morally and legally.

Living By God’s Own Righteousness

They say that Jesus actual teachings were that we should just learn about morality, try to keep the law and forgive others, then everything will be fine. Jesus told the rich man that to get to heaven you need to keep the moral law, and perhaps a good person raised in a good culture can manage this. But how many people are good? Only God is good. We must be more nuanced and dualistic in our thinking, both of these scenarios are true simultaneously. Yes some good people will escape hell and go to the nations of the saved, but most people are not capable of this. And if we reject the words of Jesus then his words will condemn us. Why not just take his offer of grace and give up you own efforts? Is it too simple, too humbling?

–“John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mark 1:4) Forgiveness is not automatic; we look to the cross as Moses looked at the serpent on the pole.
—“The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John15:5)
–John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Luke 3:16) Both water baptism and spirit baptism symbolise death and resurrection. The life lived by the ‘tree of knowledge of good and evil’ must die so that the life lived by the ‘tree of life’ can flourish.

Justice and Judgment

There must be justice because justice is a part of God’s character, even if hell is temporary, and only a small number actually end up in the lake of fire. There are always consequences – unless we put them on Jesus.
“The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.” (John 12:48)
God is love, but because we have free will and an enemy in the ether, if we listen to Lucifer’s doctrines in this life we will belong to him and suffer with him in the next life. If we listen to Jesus we will belong to Jesus.
“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God“. (John 3:18) (his name means God is salvation)
Jesus constantly warned about the dangers of Hell.

Sheol (realm of the dead) and Abaddon are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children of men! (Prov 15:11)