Are not those who do good works out of their own flesh not just like their father the devil, being those who merely masquerade as an angel of light? For is it not true that they boast of their good works as if it is unto “the fruit of righteousness” that they may be regarded as the equals of the true sons of the light? For have I not said unto these that all your righteous acts are like filthy rags?

     Is it not true that many a man who knows not the living God, who has rejected the living God, but who like Adam before him has said I choose for myself this day what is right and wrong, what is good and evil, that he holds up the good deeds that he does as evidence of his own goodness and righteousness (light)? And is this not the same pattern as the prince of darkness who has fallen from glory and grace who knows no light but merely masquerades as an angel of light? For if you have rejected the living God, or if your good works are born out of the flesh, not the Spirit, when you say look at my good works, are you not yourself merely masquerading as an angel of light?

     For those who have rejected the living God, light cannot be born of that which is not light. And for those who seek a works-based righteousness, righteousness cannot be born of that which is not righteousness. For righteousness cannot be earned. It is not an outside-in pursuit, but an inside-out manifestation, one which starts with an incorruptible seed that matures into the brightness of the fullness of day.

     One who knows not the living Son, who has not the seed of light deposited and born inside of him, cannot say that on this day I will dress myself from the outside with the clothes of righteousness of all my own good deeds that I may earn my entrance into heaven. For is it not written: “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” In the same way, unless the good deeds are a fruit of an inward nature, born of the light, not one of outward self-performance, they are but filthy rags, merely masquerading as light.