Mailing #1: Truth About Salvation (excerpt from pages 1-6)
FOREWORD
The following testimony of the Word of God and of my faith is written for all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ; for those born-again by His Spirit according to the Gospel of John 3:3-7 thus belonging to the Lord as well as for all those who “think” they are Christians belonging to the Lord but are not. They are “paper Christians” who may sit in congregations and pray, sing, worship, give offerings and feel good but they have not the Spirit of Christ, therefore, they are none of His! (Rom. 8:9) And if they are none of His then they still belong to Satan. They remain condemned without knowing it, without realizing it and without being told or warned by anybody!
The matter of Salvation is thus the most important issue for any one in this world who believed, intellectually or by faith, in Jesus Christ the Son of God. It is equally important to every true born-again believer who, in the matter of Salvation, may be deceived just as much as the “paper Christians” who understand nothing.
Since our Eternal Life or eternal death depends on the Truth as revealed by God in His Word, then, I believe, it is of the utmost importance for every man who has any interest in his future to seek the Truth, believe the Truth and do the Truth. Only then he may have confidence and assurance of his Eternal Life and not before.
But people, including true born-again Christians, do not seek the Truth and do not love the Truth. That is to say, they do not seek the LORD and do not love the LORD WHO IS THE TRUTH. (Jn. 14:6) They love themselves, they love their own life and they love to walk on their own ways, which ways bring them their self-satisfaction. They prefer death to Life, darkness to Light and lies to the Truth.
But we all should know that our enemy, the devil, is like a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour by any means, chiefly by lying and deceiving. (1Pet. 5:8) We should also know that we may only survive by seeking the Truth of God, believing that Truth and then holding onto that Truth at all costs!
It is the CHIEF PURPOSE of this written testimony that on its pages YOU MAY SEEK THE TRUTH in the Word of God concerning your Eternal Life or eternal death. That you may BELIEVE THE TRUTH and then HOLD ONTO THAT TRUTH and DO THAT TRUTH through the Spirit of God in you.
May the Lord Jesus Christ bring this testimony by His Spirit to such hearts and souls, which are predestinated by the Father (Rom. 8:29). May the Lord enable them to seek and find, to believe and then to do the Truth. AMEN.
Hanola
TRUTH ABOUT SALVATION
Very few believers possess any acceptable understanding or depth of the truth of what Redemption and Salvation really are and what is their respective scope, process, purpose and final result or fruit. I praise the Lord Jesus Christ and thank Him for this opportunity to share my faith, understanding and living experiences which He has been granting me and enlarging within me since the beginning of my own redemption.
I am asking the Spirit of the Lord to guide me in expressing my faith and understanding in the way, which would be profitable to any believer seeking the truth, seeking explanations to the number-less problems and divisions in Christianity as well as to his own possible problems and frustrations. God’s guidance will also enable me to be brief and clear on this most important issue of His Church. Yes, I believe that this is the most important issue of the Church and decides the direction, quality and future life of every true believer.
I also believe that because of its importance, our enemies – the powers of darkness – do everything possible to hide the truth about man’s Full Salvation. These powers have succeeded to an unbelievable degree in hiding the truth and deceiving believers of all kinds and denominations around the world. Their chief tactics have always been not to focus on the millions of “church-goers, the sheep” but on the small number of shepherds, who are “feeding the sheep” and whom the sheep follow and trust. Very clever and economic way to affect the whole Church and to make sure that the chief purpose and desire of Our God is effectively frustrated and prevented. Let us, therefore, seek the Truth and Light about this most important issue together with the Spirit of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
There are two basic stages of man’s Full Salvation, which may be clearly distinguished in the Word of God and also discerned in many believers by those who have spiritual discernment. The two stages of the Full Salvation differ from one another as to their scope, purpose and final result and they are the following:
A) Redemption (salvation of man’s spirit)
B) Salvation (salvation of man’s soul)
We will now take each stage separately and attempt to define it, its scope, purpose and final result by the Scripture according to the Mind and Heart of God Our Heavenly Father. We are able to do this by His Spirit Who dwells in us for that specific purpose – to accomplish in us fully and completely this Full Salvation of Our God. The Spirit Alone searches the deep things of God and reveals them unto us; otherwise, we would know nothing because by our created (Adamic) nature we cannot receive the things of God. (1Cor. 2:10-12) Let us, therefore, depend solely on the Spirit of God and receive from Him what He desires to reveal to us so that we would see, understand and do our part of what God desires and what our Full Salvation really requires.
A) REDEMPTION
In the old Roman Empire when a slave was sold and bought at the slave market, he legally and practically changed his owner. Yet, after being bought, he remained exactly the same in his inner features, character, nature, as well as his outer features, appearance. Unless the new owner had him washed, clothed with a new clothing and perhaps even educated, the slave would have remained totally unchanged and exactly the same as he was before he was bought.
When Adam and Eve separated themselves from God through their sin of disobedience, they lost His Presence and Spirit (Gen. 3:22-24) and acquired the presence and spirit of Satan to whom they yielded to obey and thus to serve him. (Rom. 6:16) They changed their ownership from God to Satan and acquired the nature of Satan! All the future earthly kingdoms of the children of Adam and Eve would from thereon belong to Satan. (Mt. 4:8-9)
The chief purpose of Redemption is to change man’s owner-ship from Satan back to God. This was accomplished by Christ Jesus Who redeemed us back to God by offering His Life, which is to say, His Blood as the payment. (Rev. 5:9, 1Pet. 1:18-19, Lev. 17:14, Deut. 12:23) The world had been a vast “slave market” and the Lord Jesus was, as it were, a Merchant seeking “goodly slaves” and willing to pay even all that He had. (Mt. 13:44-46)
From God’s viewpoint, the Lord legally redeemed the whole mankind, which is also attested to by the word “whosoever” in Jn. 3:16. In reality though, the only truly redeemed from the world are the “called-out ones”, the Church, “the pearl of great price”.
The first step in our Redemption starts with using our initial measure of faith given to every man. (Rom. 12:3) This faith enables us to overcome our pride, become sober, see ourselves as (helpless) sinners and repent from our sins. This first step of repentance was also the very first message the Lord began to preach. (Mt. 4:17).
The second step of our Redemption is by faith confessing the Lord Jesus Christ and believing in our heart that God had raised Him up from the dead. (Rom. 10:9, Eph. 2:8) This step of ours causes the Spirit of God to come back to His seat in our spirit (nucleus, see page B2) where He was in Adam and Eve before their fall. Thus, we are “born again” by the Spirit of God (Jn. 3:3-7) and our ownership is changed from Satan back to God.
The third step in our Redemption is water baptism. This baptism represents our willingness to die to this world and to our old selves, old creation, old satanic nature and to be separated from it by being buried (submerged into water – Rom. 6:4, Col. 2:12). Then to rise up as a new creature in newness, holiness and Christ’s nature (rising up from water – 2Cor. 5:17, Gal. 6:15). The baptism thus incorporates both the Cross and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Himself was baptized (Mt. 3:16) to give us a prophetic picture of His future way of Redemption and Salvation and also an example for us to follow. Apostle Peter expresses the same matter of repentance and baptism when he counselled those Jews who believed that God had made Him Whom they crucified both Lord and Christ. To them Peter gives the same steps: “repent and be baptized… and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:36-38)
The above three steps constitute the scope of Redemption. This stage may also be called the “transfer of man’s ownership”, also the “salvation of man’s spirit”, or “reviving of man’s spirit” or “rebirth of man’s spirit”. The purpose of this stage is to facilitate the transfer of sinful and corrupt man, slave of Satan, from Satan back to God. Then to prepare such a believer for the next stage, which is the“salvation of man’s soul”, or “recreation of man’s soul”, or “reviving -rebirth of man’s soul”, or “transformation of man’s soul.”
The final result of this stage of Redemption provides God with “slaves” who are fully bought, taken out of the “market place” and who are willing to be cleansed, changed and transformed into His sons and daughters. They are thus willing to be prepared to enter the House of God, their new Master and Owner and Father!
THIS IS REDEMPTION, its scope, purpose and final result and it is THE BEGINNING OF SALVATION AND NOT ITS END. The Words of God referred to above (among many others), my faith and own long experience all testify to this fact.
B) SALVATION
This stage follows our Redemption and leads us through a “straight gate” onto a “narrow road”, which leads to Life Eternal, which is God’s Life, to reign also in our soul. (Mt. 7:13-14) This is the only way for any soul to be transformed into the Image of Jesus Christ, to acquire His Nature. (Rom. 8:29) Also, this is the Will of God for man from the very beginning when God created man in His Image! (Gen. 1:26) Therefore, when man has no Image of God also in his soul cannot satisfy the Heart of God and has no place in Heaven.
Though we may call this stage the “salvation-recreation-reviving-rebirth-transformation of man’s soul”, we are always dealing with the soul of man who already belongs to God but is yet dead, sinful and totally unacceptable to Him in its evil nature. Why is it unacceptable?
Firstly, such a soul is yet soaked in, governed and guided by the nature of Satan. It is proud, corrupt, arrogant, selfish, filthy, rebellious, stubborn, fearful, doubtful, lustful, greedy, envious, unre-liable, unholy, self-willed, self-guided and evil – all these are in the Scripture also called “flesh” – the nature of Satan and of man! This flesh has become a “permanent tenant” in man’s natural soul since Adam and Eve acquired this nature of Satan in the Garden of Eden.
Secondly, the Spirit of the Lord only came to our spirit (at our redemption) and not to our soul. He dwells and reigns only in our spirit (page B2) while in our soul reigns the flesh, that is, death. We were born again, recreated, revived in our spirit only and not in our soul! Being an enemy of God, our “flesh lusts (fights) against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you (otherwise) would.” (Gal. 5:17) This is that “war” between the Spirit and fleshly soul in the personality of every true born-again believer.
That is why “freshly” redeemed believers and all those older ones who refuse to “go on unto perfection” are all fleshly, carnal, and not spiritual! (Rom. 7:14 and 8:7, 1Cor. 3:1-3) The source of their life and deeds IS THE FLESH OF THEIR SOUL (emotions, intellect, volition) where the Spirit of the Lord neither dwells nor reigns. The natural ability of a fleshly soul to acquire intellectual knowledge of the Scripture, doctrines, facts and purposes or to tell good from evil, to pray, to give offerings, to worship or do good does not make any believer spiritual. You may read, know and understand the whole Bible (and give all your goods to the poor) and still be lost!
Such a believer still feeds from the “tree of knowledge of good and evil” available in the flesh of his soul, and not from the “Tree of Life” available in his spirit. The desire of such a fleshly soul to serve God based on his knowledge is, therefore, not acceptable to God since such a soul himself is not acceptable to Him.
This most important fact also means that even receiving the Holy Spirit into our spirit and thus becoming His temple (1Cor. 6:19) is not sufficient! God may yet destroy such believer if he keeps defiling God’s holy temple through his filthy-fleshly soul being deceived in himself. (1Cor. 3:16-20) God desires that we would become His sons and daughters through partaking of His Holiness – His Nature – His Image – into our soul. (Heb. 12:10) Then we will become blameless, holy and fully acceptable to God in our own human trinity – spirit, soul and body. (1Thess. 5:23)
At our redemption, the Holy Spirit brings this potential into our spirit. But if we rebel and keep refusing God’s chastening and scourging then we are bastards and not sons! This is established in the Word of God quite clearly. (Heb. 12:5-11, 15-17)
THEREFORE, in this second stage of our Salvation, the Spirit of God desires to dwell and reign also in our soul making it holy. He thus moves to purify and renew our soul: our heart (Jer. 17:9-10), our mind (Eph. 4:22-24) and our will (Phil. 2:13)! There are innumerable passages in the New Testament showing ever clearly this fact, the way it is accomplished and its final and desired fruit…
to be continued in the next mailing.., or if you desire, you can click on the link below.