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So How Does A Person Get Saved?


Donillo

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With my six children I never pressured one to be saved, all six were raised in the church and a loving christian home,.today each one has been saved but not of my will, but of the lords will and the conviction of the Holly Spirit and Praising the Lord for answering our prayers is our joy    

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Highly unlikely according to the information presented.  "I guess he said he was saved" is not even definite.  By your description, this fella just found a building with people in it he likes better than the old building and people in it.

 

When God saved me, I didn't understand or could not articulate it but I knew I was saved.  On June 13, 2007 right around 2:30 in the afternoon I was out on my porch balcony and I simply gave up, told the Lord I was done resisting and realized that I could no longer succeed on my own, that what I'd been doing and living was wrong and turned my life over to him.  There's your Acts 20:21.

 

I didn't understand until years later how His death on the cross saved me (seems so simple now), I didn't stop cursing like a sailor or viewing pornography right away and did become anti-abortion in an instant.  I went out and bought a bible and started reading it and immediately began attending church and soaking in all things christian, especially on television.  There's your Phil 4:2.  That's an NIV bible, Catholic church and Charles Stanley and the 700 Club.  Talk about piling error upon error!  I didn't know a single Christian and nOBody witnessed to me.  Well there's more, but I reckon it's not unlike most folks here who later became Independent Baptists too.

 

Please rewind for just a moment friend. Is this your actual testimony? What you just described on june 13, 2007 is a resolution and not a new birth. Without the Gospel and conviction of the Spirit from hearing the

Gospel, there is no new birth period.

You mention nothing of the Gospel being preached to you, nothing of seeds sown in the past, nothing of previous witnesses, relatives, anyone?

Was there ever a time after this that you answered the Spirit's call by the Gospel? I am not second guessing or challenging you but this is important my friend.

If you were just summarizing quickly and there is more leading up to the event in 2007, then I apologize.

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All that matters is who and what you are trusting in now to get you into heaven. It doesn't matter about some salvation experience in the past and whether you can remember all the details or not (I can't). What matters is who you are trusting at this precise moment. 

 

It doesn't matter about a prayer, conviction, feeling of guilt or being lost, or memory of a specific time and place, etc, etc. If you are NOW trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and his precious blood ONLY then you are in.

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No consensus here on how one is saved and all say the bible says this and that. God uses different means but all through Christ. But there has to be knowledge of the new birth, a point where a person has been born again. If we love God then we love others. You can't make the bible tell you that you are saved, for it is something that the Holy spirit does In your heart.

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Please rewind for just a moment friend. Is this your actual testimony? What you just described on june 13, 2007 is a resolution and not a new birth. Without the Gospel and conviction of the Spirit from hearing the

Gospel, there is no new birth period.

You mention nothing of the Gospel being preached to you, nothing of seeds sown in the past, nothing of previous witnesses, relatives, anyone?

Was there ever a time after this that you answered the Spirit's call by the Gospel? I am not second guessing or challenging you but this is important my friend.

If you were just summarizing quickly and there is more leading up to the event in 2007, then I apologize.

 

No, on that day I made repentance toward God and put my faith in Jesus Christ.

 

There is more, some time earlier my wife had given to me the book, The Case for Christ, I read it to disprove once and for all God and the bible.  I didn't win and thank heavens for that!

 

My only memory of someone witnessing to me (the exact conversation is lost, don't even know if it was biblical) was at the BEQ lounge at Glenview Naval Air Station in the summer of 1986.  That night a former sailor and wanderer told me he traveled the country going wherever the Lord needed him to go.  He talked to me about the Lord but I soon changed the topic.  I was the chief mocker of all things God in my family, though while in uniform I faked it.  Used to make sport out of running those anti-abortion people off the sidewalks with my muscle car; it's a miracle that God chose to forgive all that I had done against him and still keeps my name in the book despite all the wrongs I continue to do.  Were there others?  I cannot remember, there were certainly some I never gave a second's worth of my time to try though.  

 

Just as the savage in the jungle is responsible to God, my salvation was similar.

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No consensus here on how one is saved and all say the bible says this and that. God uses different means but all through Christ. But there has to be knowledge of the new birth, a point where a person has been born again. If we love God then we love others. You can't make the bible tell you that you are saved, for it is something that the Holy spirit does In your heart.

 

There certainly is a consensus Donillo.  We are saved by grace, by making repentance towards God and putting our faith in, turning our lives over to Jesus Christ.  There is no work we can do to get into heaven, none of deserve it, our best works are as filthy rags.  There is none righteous, no not one.  We are only righteous through the blood of Jesus Christ and only once has made repentance towards God and put his faith in the Savior.

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Interesting question.

 

But I think you have to back up a minute.  What does salvation mean?  This is something I am not sure I entirely know the answer to.  When I was a child, I was taught a person is saved by saying a prayer repeated after a preacher or friend.  I now no longer believe that.  Salvation is much more complex.  I do not think it is a one time thing, but an on going process.  To start the process, one must make a decision to become a disciple or follower of Jesus.  But God will work on them throughout their entire lives. 

 

So what does it mean that one "got saved?"  I honestly do not know.  I really hate that term.  I prefer to say once made a decision to follow or become a disciple of Jesus. 

 

Yes, a single event is part of salvation.  Even children raised in the church, such as my own, who follow Jesus as far as they can understand, will have to decide to become a disciple on their own.  Right now, I have planted them in fertile soil and hope that faith takes root. It very well might.  I have a friend who is a clear follower of Jesus who never remembers not believing.  It was something he grew into and at some point decided to make his own.  So when was he saved?  I don't know but I do know he is a follower of Jesus.  I had another friend in college who grew into faith during a summer when he took a New Testament class.  He did not "pray a prayer," but there was undoubtedly a change.  Yet one of my good friends who "prayed a prayer" at 9 years old is not a follower of Christ and is a self proclaimed agnostic today.  so salvation is a very complicated thing. 

 

Yet it is so simple as well.

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Interesting question.

 

But I think you have to back up a minute.  What does salvation mean?  This is something I am not sure I entirely know the answer to.  When I was a child, I was taught a person is saved by saying a prayer repeated after a preacher or friend.  I now no longer believe that.  Salvation is much more complex.  I do not think it is a one time thing, but an on going process.  To start the process, one must make a decision to become a disciple or follower of Jesus.  But God will work on them throughout their entire lives. 

 

So what does it mean that one "got saved?"  I honestly do not know.  I really hate that term.  I prefer to say once made a decision to follow or become a disciple of Jesus. 

 

Yes, a single event is part of salvation.  Even children raised in the church, such as my own, who follow Jesus as far as they can understand, will have to decide to become a disciple on their own.  Right now, I have planted them in fertile soil and hope that faith takes root. It very well might.  I have a friend who is a clear follower of Jesus who never remembers not believing.  It was something he grew into and at some point decided to make his own.  So when was he saved?  I don't know but I do know he is a follower of Jesus.  I had another friend in college who grew into faith during a summer when he took a New Testament class.  He did not "pray a prayer," but there was undoubtedly a change.  Yet one of my good friends who "prayed a prayer" at 9 years old is not a follower of Christ and is a self proclaimed agnostic today.  so salvation is a very complicated thing. 

 

Yet it is so simple as well.

 

I'm so sorry to hear you say this KOB.

 

Man has made the Gospel complex and wrong by adding works to it.  

 

The moment a person makes repentance towards God and puts their trust in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit immediately indwells them and their name is written in the book of life.  They cannot lose their salvation.

 

Salvation is NOT a process, sanctification is.

 

Now what does "repentance" (in the context of salvation) and "faith" (in the context of salvation) mean?

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13For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

14How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

15And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

16But they have not all OBeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?

17So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.   Romans 10:13-17

 

Salvation in a nutshell. Someone must go and preach, so the lost can hear and believe. Even with Paul, Jesus Himself went and preached to him, so to speak. And when they believe, they call for salvation and are saved.

 

Just "praying a prayer' is not it. Calling upon the Lord IS a part of it, but so is belief, and know WHAT to believe. Don't got to know everything, clearly, but even the proverbial child k nows when they have done wrong and that punishment will come if things are not made right. That's why I remember my sister, as a child, smacking my brother in the head right in front of my father, then running up to my father and saying, "I love you, daddy!". She knew she was in trouble and was trying, vainly, to make it right before punishment fell. So we must know who God is, know why we are in trouble and what has been done about it, so we can seek forgiveness and salvation. A single event, though growth is a life-long thing.

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For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day
according to the scriptures:  1 Corinthians 15:3-4

 

Christ died for OUR sins (took them upon himself)

and then ROSE from the dead (satisfying God).

When you first know this, then you have to make a "decision".

Either you recognize God's forgiveness and apply it to yourself, or your sin remains "upon yourself".

The "ego" must "die", or your pride will prevent you from receiving forgivness and eternal life.

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No, on that day I made repentance toward God and put my faith in Jesus Christ.

 

There is more, some time earlier my wife had given to me the book, The Case for Christ, I read it to disprove once and for all God and the bible.  I didn't win and thank heavens for that!

 

My only memory of someone witnessing to me (the exact conversation is lost, don't even know if it was biblical) was at the BEQ lounge at Glenview Naval Air Station in the summer of 1986.  That night a former sailor and wanderer told me he traveled the country going wherever the Lord needed him to go.  He talked to me about the Lord but I soon changed the topic.  I was the chief mocker of all things God in my family, though while in uniform I faked it.  Used to make sport out of running those anti-abortion people off the sidewalks with my muscle car; it's a miracle that God chose to forgive all that I had done against him and still keeps my name in the book despite all the wrongs I continue to do.  Were there others?  I cannot remember, there were certainly some I never gave a second's worth of my time to try though.  

 

Just as the savage in the jungle is responsible to God, my salvation was similar.

 

Ah, got it bro, thanks. KInd reply too.

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No consensus here on how one is saved and all say the bible says this and that. God uses different means but all through Christ. But there has to be knowledge of the new birth, a point where a person has been born again. If we love God then we love others. You can't make the bible tell you that you are saved, for it is something that the Holy spirit does In your heart.

l John 5:13  These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

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I agree that many children are forced into salvation.  I have seen it in my church.  I remember my niece, going to the altar, after an invitation by an evangelist, remaining kneeling at the altar.  One of the woman went to the altar to pray with her.  My FIL had good intentions, but he asked this woman, "Did she get saved, did she get saved?"   The woman said, "No.  She didn't put her faith and trust in Jesus Christ."  My niece was very young.  Several years later, her younger brother professed to be saved.  Then, she immediately said that she was saved.  I watch them in church.  Neither of them take a song book to sing.  Neither of them take their Bibles to church.  I truly do not think they are saved.  I believe it was sibling rivalry with them.  My nephew decided he would say he got saved, then his older sister followed.

In the IFB church that I was a member of for 4 years, they don't push salvation upon the children.  They wait patiently on the Holy Spirit to do His jOB.  Many of those children were in their teenage years before they got saved.  However, they show fruits of their salvation and they also know the way to get to heaven is by faith in Jesus Christ.

I have talked with my pastor's wife about how many church members push the children into salvation, when they aren't convicted of the Holy Spirit.  Many teenagers and adults, in my church, have come forward years later, and confessed they needed to know Christ as Personal Saviour.  Well meaning parents and grandparents should step back and let the Holy Spirit work, rather than pushing the Spirit.

This takes me back to when I thought I was saved in 1998.  A Baptist friend had me say the "Sinners Prayer."  I thought I was saved.  I bought a KJV Bible and began to read and study it.  I began witnessing to people, as well.  It wasn't until I gained head knowledge in my church that I was saved May 10, 2003 (Mother's Day Weekend) in the hospital after an Epileptic Seizure.  I told everyone I came into contact with that weekend, in my hospital bed, that I was a born again Christian.  I also chased away a few doctors who came to check on me.  The hospital finally sent in a former Baptist preacher to talk to me.  We prayed together and the Holy Spirit reassured me of my salvation.      

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Our wayward son was in attendance at an evangelistic service when he was 16 or 17 and I do believe he was under Holy Ghost conviction but he was fighting it. The helpers (I don't recall what they actually called them) who spoke with him afterward used a good deal of emotional appeal with him and talked him into saying a "sinners prayer" and proclaimed him saved.

 

Afterward he said all the right things but something to me didn't seem right, though I hoped for the best. It didn't take long before the emotion of it all wore off and it was evident there had been no repentance, no change of heart, no surrendering to Christ. He once again told me the same thing he had told me on previous occasions when I had shared the Gospel with him and talked with him about it. Unfortunately, that's still his position today.

 

According to our wayward son, he does believe Jesus is who the Bible says He is and does believe Jesus is the only way of salvation, being right with God, going to heaven, avoiding hell, etc. He claims he would like to follow Jesus but he wants the things of the world, he doesn't want to deny his flesh, he wants to do what he wants to do.

 

We continue to pray for him, of course, but it is looking as if this will be a long battle. Since he's moved out he's shown no interest at all in the things of God. No interest in the Bible (when he moved out he left his Bible here, claiming he didn't have room to pack it, yet he found room to pack some snow boots someone had given him...he moved to Florida, no need for snow boots there; and as we know, always a need for the Bible) and he's not interested in finding a church to attend.

 

One of the nearby churches often pushes getting children and youth "saved and baptized" but it's not biblical salvation, and depending upon who the current pastor happens to be (they go through a lot of pastors), sometimes they are teaching that baptism is necessary for salvation. I've seen so many go through that church, grow up in that church, "get saved and baptized" and as soon as they are out of the house and off to college they are dressing immodestly, getting drunk, sleeping around, and yet they are under the false belief they are good with God and most often their parents believe that too.

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If he cannot recall a single point in time where he was hearing or reading the Gospel (death, burial and resurrection of Jesus) preached, felt an undeniable conviction of sin, God's righteousness and judgment to come and at this point changed his entire outlook on God calling out to God to save him, then No, he is not born again. He is just one of many tares within IFB churches.

 

His story however is less common than what I think is the most common tare in IFB churches though.

 

Wow! Didn't think it was such a difficult thing to become a believer in Jesus Christ. Let's see, how many steps was there? 5?

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