There is around us battles of every sort being waged; mainly lost in regard to overall success and victory of the church at least here in the West; yet the war is won. The Rapture is one official notice as it were giving sudden victory; or that is the salvation of our bodies from this fallen world into heaven itself. We know the war was won over sin because Jesus had the victory over death and hell which is eternal death at the cross. This ensures that we are all alive in Christ and our souls live forever sealed in the Spirit which resides in every true saint of God.
Now some have had dramatic salvation experiences; and I am sure my own hardened heart took away much of what I should have experienced back in May 1982 when I made a true confession of faith in Christ to save me from my sins and "accept" Him as personal Savior and Lord. I don't like that terminology of course since He is Lord whether we accept it or not. The issue was my sin; as it was correctly indicated that without Him I would end up in hell. The description of hell had certain claims of torment which may or may not be warrented in scripture but nonetheless I can say that my conversion was genuine and I took seriously not turning the back on the plow ( Luke 9:62). As with any situation; we can't be too extreme in the sense that a verbal confession is an end all; because there is no guarantee our vow is genuine; and also true sanctification makes sin clearer as we grow so in some way it seems we are worse than before. This seems like a paradox but as more sin is revealed; or another layer exposed we find ourselves more dependent. In reality it is just making clearer how all along our plight was absolute and desperate but it isn't all clear right away. This involves as one of the hardest things for me and I suspect others giving up all affections and love that seems innocent and good but rooted in this world. Much of that comes from music; more in the next post.
There is around us battles of every sort being waged; mainly lost in regard to overall success and victory of the church at least here in the West; yet the war is won. The Rapture is one official notice as it were giving sudden victory; or that is the salvation of our bodies from this fallen world into heaven itself. We know the war was won over sin because Jesus had the victory over death and hell which is eternal death at the cross. This ensures that we are all alive in Christ and our souls live forever sealed in the Spirit which resides in every true saint of God.
Now some have had dramatic salvation experiences; and I am sure my own hardened heart took away much of what I should have experienced back in May 1982 when I made a true confession of faith in Christ to save me from my sins and "accept" Him as personal Savior and Lord. I don't like that terminology of course since He is Lord whether we accept it or not. The issue was my sin; as it was correctly indicated that without Him I would end up in hell. The description of hell had certain claims of torment which may or may not be warrented in scripture but nonetheless I can say that my conversion was genuine and I took seriously not turning the back on the plow ( Luke 9:62). As with any situation; we can't be too extreme in the sense that a verbal confession is an end all; because there is no guarantee our vow is genuine; and also true sanctification makes sin clearer as we grow so in some way it seems we are worse than before. This seems like a paradox but as more sin is revealed; or another layer exposed we find ourselves more dependent. In reality it is just making clearer how all along our plight was absolute and desperate but it isn't all clear right away. This involves as one of the hardest things for me and I suspect others giving up all affections and love that seems innocent and good but rooted in this world. Much of that comes from music; more in the next post.
This comment thread is locked. Please enter a new comment below to start a new comment thread.
Note: Comment threads older than 2 months are automatically locked.
Do you have a Bible comment or question?
Posting comments is currently unavailable due to high demand on the server.
Please check back in an hour or more. Thank you for your patience!
Report Comment
Which best represents the problem with the comment?