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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | I wan to YEILD | 1 John 5:13 | justme | 88745 | ||
Lightman: Welcome to the Forum! You question reminds me of a man who was 37 and asked the same questions you do. This man told of asking the the lord into his heart over and over. He told of how he was scared to death to die. He too claimed have read the Bible for many years, and his Bible looked as if he had all but worn it out! He told of how he had repeatedly gone to several pastors in his life time seeking reassurance of his salvation. Some pastors told him he needed to pray more. So he says, he prayed more and more, with no results! Other pastors told him to tithe, and to read the Bible even more. He said he did all that and more. He was a trustee, Sunday School teacher, and active in the church. This man looked as saved as anyone, and no one doubted he was a true believer. The pain and agony of the constant fear of death and doubts got so bad it got unbareable. One Saturday at a men's breackfast at the church the special speaker told how he found Christ. Every detail the speaker related of how it was before he was truely born again, matched this mans life. This man claimes that what he was missing was repentance. He said he had never repented of anything. We know that confession without repentance is incomplete. Right? This man did repent and went to extremes. He refiled his past 5 years of income tax becaue he said he had never filed an honest one. He sought out those he had wronged and asked for restitution and forgiveness. The story goes on, he had to ask the deacons permission to be baptized. He was so active in church the deacons would not believe he just got saved. One deacon is said to have told the man, if you were't saved then I am not either! The man was baptized, and his family was changed. He went to Bible colledge, and completed four years in 24 months. He got a M Div at Seminary and pastored four churches. Both he and his wife got the same degrees, and ministered together until he became retired medically, several years later. This man's story has been the kindling to start some people thinking if they too were like he was. I have often wondered how many people are just like this man was. Do you recall a point where you not only confessed Jesus Christ, but repented? Repentance and confession are the two sides of the same coin. Examine carefully your self and see if this man's lack of repentance is in some way connected to how you feel. I pray this offers some new insight to you. Blessings and peace to you. Justme PS: I was that man! |
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2 | I wan to YEILD | 1 John 5:13 | flinkywood | 88786 | ||
Justme, that is a terrific testimony! It's also so perfectly true. I've felt that, very much so. Two years ago, not long after I go saved, an evangelist named Ray Comfort handed me one of his tapes, "Hell's Best Kept Secret," in which he dealt forthrightly with the weakness of modern-day evangelism, particularly around its soft-pedaling the subject of hell and repentance. He blames the year-later-follow-up failure of so many conversions on the converts' not ever having understood what they'd been saved from. Sure, God is love, but He's got wrath to burn. I listened to this tape with mounting fury: "Who does this guy think he is?" Well, his message had gotten to me in much the same way you'd been gotten to. That tape turned my heart around. Your experience is so valuable. Tell it to everyone. |
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3 | I wan to YEILD | 1 John 5:13 | Hank | 88788 | ||
Hey there, flinkywood! Speaking of hell and repentance, I attended a church for years and don't recall repentance or hell ever being preached from the pulpit. Oh, I heard the word 'hell' used quite frequently by some of the church members, but not in any theological sense I assure you. They used it as an interjection, as in the phrase, "Hell, I don't know!" or as an intensive, as in "It hurts like hell." ..... And this church that once upon a time did talk about the necessity of repentance and the reality of hell but threw both out of the pulpit as antiquated oddities of a by-gone age once thrived but now is withering and dying. It is a sad commentary indeed on the modern church that growing numbers of its professing members, clergy and laity alike, attach little or no importance to repentance or believe in the reality of hell. ..... By the way, Colin, you have 99 posts to your credit but still have not favored us with a user profile. Could I talk you into treating us to one? --Hank | ||||||
4 | I wan to YEILD | 1 John 5:13 | flinkywood | 88805 | ||
Hank, a healthy dose of fear helps to make a sticky christian. A great book is "Revival's Golden Key" by Ray Comfort, who also authored "The Evidence Bible". I like Ray: he's funny; his ministry is way out there, and his bible tracts are completely wild. He's got a website: http://www.livingwaters.com/ I really liked Justme's dead honest testimony. It brings to mind a line from an Emily Dickenson poem (#241): "I like a look of Agony, Because I know it's true -" So many people seem just to talk the talk, know what I mean? I'll get around to a profile sometime soon, Hank. You make it hard to kick against the pricks. Colin. |
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