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BIBLICAL MANHOOD CONTRASTED WITH THE WORLD’S MANHOOD PART ONE

Posted on by sonoftherighthand

From: Benjamin D. Mabee
To:   Readers

Subj: BIBLICAL MANHOOD CONTRASTED WITH THE WORLD’S MANHOOD PART ONE

1.  It’s not a secret manhood is perverted in the modern world.  Making this claim wouldn’t exactly be breaking news.  Attacks on manhood have been with us throughout all history, but in our day the attacks seem to be more acute.  Maybe that is a byproduct of our experience in time, in our moment, everything seems more real because it’s happening now, and it’s happening to us.  Even so, among Americans there is a common conception of a day in the not so distant past when men were men, women were women, chivalry and good manners were virtues, and life and society seemed better, at least, when we compared it to our modern woke world.  Many people are looking back now at what once was, and wondering, “how did we get here?”  This has produced a large amount of public discourse in all spheres of society and does not merit a repeat here.  I even believe the conversation on wokeness and its ills is becoming tired, and a malaise on the subject is setting in.  People are becoming bored with it.  The shock value is wearing off.  The more shocking reality is our nation’s general acceptance of it, specifically the institutional acceptance, something I think no one thought would be possible 20 years ago.  Yes, the country is quickly abandoning God and all the former things that made it great.  In their place, Americans are embracing, and amplifying all the former negative qualities of our culture and expounding them out to their logical ends.  The point is, I want to talk about the attack on manhood, but I’m not talking about men in dresses or the transgender movement.  The problems with those are obvious.  Even the world understands this isn’t right.  Did you get that?  The w-o-r-l-d understands wokeness is wrong.  The people who do accept wokeness on its face are in the minority, the election of President Trump in 2020, with 74 million legal votes, the most in American History, overwhelmingly proves this.  That election was a total rejection of the communist infiltration of America and their rebranded class-warfare of wokism.  Now, what is wrong with manhood if we’re not talking about wokism?  Well, that is what I want to talk about today, and I think we’ll find the problem that must be addressed is much closer to the 74 million who voted for President Trump, than to the woke social Marxists.

2.  In case it wasn’t clear, from here on, I’m not talking about wokism.  There is a manhood the world accepts, and it can be described as “tough” and “macho.”  The world’s conception of a man is one who drinks whisky and beer, not wine, smokes, ideally cigars, gets tattoos, asserts itself, does not allow for public disrespect, immediately reacts to any perceived slight, listens to angry music like heavy metal, or hip-hop, drives around in muscle cars, sports cars, raised trucks, or loud motor cycles, will settle problems with their hands, will chase after as many women they can get, will spend large amounts of time in bars or clubs, his heart and eyes are full of lust, he will obsess endlessly over hobbies, sports, gadgets, or games, will use large numbers of personal pronouns when talking to people, without being asked he will talk about himself and his accomplishments, will bend any moral virtue to protect his self-image and pride, he will put down or belittle you and your accomplishments, he will criticize everything that isn’t about himself, he will act angry to make sure everyone knows how angry he is, will curse and blaspheme the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, will not listen to people perceived as lesser, will not respect those who are superior, hates authority, cannot be told what to do, if given a command he will become your enemy, will not obey or behave appropriately, will mope if corrected, will take what is not his, he will care very much about what is his, will presume himself greater than his actual position, both in his career, church, and community, he will obsess over his status, will target anyone weaker than he for sport or gain, cannot be trusted, will break all oaths, cannot be told anything, expects what he does not give out, does not care about others more than himself, and finally and worse of all, loves himself above God.  This man is violent, a drunkard, a liar, a thief, a blasphemer, he dishonors his parents, covetous, is an adulterer or fornicator, is proud, arrogant, selfish, vain, unjust, unrighteous, a scoffer, a mocker, and primarily, a fool, and an idolater.  This is the world’s man.  This describes conservative men, this describes liberal men, this describes many, many, self-professed Christian men.  It sounds bad, what is the solution?  Wokism and sensitivity training? – The left was right all along!  I’m kidding.  Some or all of these qualities may describe you.  Some of them describe me, even now.  Am I part of the problem?  Yes.  Are you?

3.  I am the father of two boys under ten.  In them I am able to see myself, I can see behaviors and attitudes that I have held and perhaps the Lord is still purging out of me through His glorious grace.  I watch them, in their natural state, go and practice many of the qualities I described above, albeit in a much less pronounced-childlike way.  The seeds however, are there for these undesirable behaviors.  I find myself never really having to get on them about their need to behave poorly, it just seems to be natural for them.  I spend much more time getting on them about how to behave well.  The Bible, God’s inspired and preserved Holy Word, tells us the truth concerning this reality we all know.  We’re all born in sin: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalm 51:5).  When we’re born, we’re born in Adam, and in Adam we all die: “For as in Adam all die…” (1 Corinthians 15:22).  Adam is the one man who made us all sinners: “…by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” (Romans 5:12).  God cursed Adam and all his posterity with death, because of his sin: “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life… …till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Genesis 3:17,19).  For this cause there are no righteous men born to Adam: “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:” (Romans 3:10); there are no just men on the earth: “…there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.” (Ecclesiastes 20:7); and all have fallen short of God’s mark: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:23).  This is true for me, it’s true for my two boys, and it’s true for the 74 million people who voted for President Trump.  Men and women are by nature sinners.  They miss God’s intended mark for His Creation.  Among other things, natural sin gives us the world’s idea of manhood.

4.  The world’s man is therefore like a child.  He started off in sin and was not corrected, he was allowed to mature into full adulthood without ever leaving behind the youthful lusts.  Maybe take a moment and read my description of the world’s man again.  It sounds like a child, maybe in light of some of the more mature critiques, it pictures a teenager, who in effect, is still a child.  The world’s man and his manhood is a child and a child’s idea of manliness.  These ideas are like a cartoon or a Hollywood action movie.  They’re children with the strength, intellect, and power of adults.  What is their common theme?  Fathers not teaching their children to fear God.  The father is designed to lead his home: “…fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4).  Provoke not your children to wrath.  Why are men so angry today?  Why do they go about acting the way they do, fighting everyone, taking what is not theirs, listening to angry music, being angry all the time, and continually scaling up their emotions against the system?  The scriptures teach a special relationship between fathers and their children.  Fathers are to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and they’re not to provoke their children to wrath.  How are they provoking their children to wrath?  The verse answers itself, there is a connection to instructing their children about God, their Maker.  Fathers who don’t or fail to teach their children of God, the Gospel, and His commandments cause their children to wrath.  It’s not just a warning against unbecoming conduct of fathers towards their children, even if it could be applied that way, there is a deeper connection to the responsibility of the father to teach their Children of the Lord.  Men in particular are predisposed to wrath, unless it’s curbed by the careful nurture and admonition of the Lord, something only a father can give their Children.  What then of the children who grow up with mothers only?  They are not much different than children who grow up with fathers who do not exercise the authority and responsibility given to them by the Lord Jesus Christ, our Great Maker, who designed them both male and female, and their roles within the order of Creation.

5.  Matthew Henry puts it beautifully: “[1.] Do not provoke your children to wrath. Though God has given you power, you must not abuse that power, remembering that your children are, in a particular manner, pieces of yourselves, and therefore ought to be governed with great tenderness and love. Be not impatient with them, use no unreasonable severities and lay no rigid injunctions upon them. When you caution them, when you counsel them, when you reprove them, do it in such a manner as not to provoke them to wrath. In all such cases deal prudently and wisely with them, endeavouring to convince their judgments and to work upon their reason.” [2.] “Bring them up well, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, in the discipline of proper and of compassionate correction, and in the knowledge of that duty which God requires of them and by which they may become better acquainted with him. Give them a good education.” It is the great duty of parents to be careful in the education of their children: “Not only bring them up, as the brutes do, taking care to provide for them; but bring them up in nurture and admonition, in such a manner as is suitable to their reasonable natures. Nay, not only bring them up as men, in nurture and admonition, but as Christians, in the admonition of the Lord. Let them have a religious education. Instruct them to fear sinning; and inform them of, and excite them to, the whole of their duty towards God.” (MHWBC, EPH 6:4).

6.  Fathers bear the responsibility for their children’s education of God.  The fear of the Lord is the basis for all learning and understanding about God; scripture exhorts us 14 times in the book of Proverbs to Fear the Lord: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7); “When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord:” (Proverbs 1:27-29); “My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.” (Proverbs 2:1-5); “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.” (Proverbs 8:13); “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10); “The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.” (Proverbs 10:27); “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.” (Proverbs 14:27); “Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith.” (Proverbs 15:16); “The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.” (Proverbs 15:33); “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.” (Proverbs 16:6); “The fear of the Lord tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.” (Proverbs 19:23); “By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life.” (Proverbs 22:4); “Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.” (Proverbs 23:17). 

7.  According to the scriptures our understanding of God must first begin with a fear of Him: “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Corinthians 5:11).  If there is no fear of God before our eyes, what will restrain us from doing whatever our hearts desire?  The scriptures teach the heart is the source of sin: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).  The Nation of Israel was judged when they “did that which was right in their own eyes” (Judges 17:6, 21:25).  The world’s manhood does not fear God and does that which is right in his own eyes.  It establishes its own righteousness: “…being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” (Romans 10:3), and it blames God as unfair for judging it as Israel did in their Babylonian Captivity: “Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.” (Ezekiel 18:29-32).  In other words, fear God and live, abandon your ways, follow after the Lord and His commandments, and live; or die.  “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7); “…be sure your sin will find you out.” (Numbers 32:22).

8.  God’s idea of manhood is like Himself.  The Apostle Paul said: “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1).  The Apostle Peter said: “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:” (1 Peter 2:21) The Lord Jesus Christ is the example given for us to follow.  Christ loved us when we were ungodly sinners, He is longsuffering, patient and kind, he commands us to love our enemies, and do double good unto those who wrong us, He told the truth unto death, He gave all that He had to others, He boldly proclaimed the glory and truth of God to everyman, had compassion on all, He did not resist evil, He rewarded evil with good, and He died in our place so that we might live if we believe.  A man has authority, he must use it lawfully, he must be what God designed Him to be, and follow the example given to Him in the Lord Jesus Christ.  The world’s manhood comprehends not the light of God’s manhood.  Men must stand on the truth of God’s word, leading their families by example, and from the front.  They need to abandon their natural sin nature by believing the Gospel: “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (1 Corinthians 13:11); and they need to examine themselves in the mirror of God’s word, beholding the Lord Jesus Christ, and have His reflection mirror back to them: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12).  A man who loves God will do what His word commands, his deeds will manifest themselves as the fruits of the unseen faith within him (Hebrews 11:1), or else the mirror of God’s word will show him his own corrupt face instead of the glorious face of our beloved Lord: “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” (James 1:21-25).  As men and as Christians we all need to examine ourselves and ask ourselves if we fear God, if we love God, and if we’re keeping His commandments. More to come.

I AM A SINNER SAVED BY GRACE

Posted on by sonoftherighthand

From: Benjamin D. Mabee
To:   Readers

Subj: I AM A SINNER SAVED BY GRACE

1.  I would like to share my testimony and how I was converted by faith from a lost sinner condemned to an eternity in Hell, to a new creature born of the Spirit by the Grace of God.  I am a Christian.  Jesus Christ is my Lord.  This is my personal story but primarily it’s about Christ and His work in my life.  To begin, there are a few questions we should all consider individually and that I will seek to answer at the conclusion. 

2.  What is a Christian?  How would you know one?  How can we know if we are one?  Where would we turn too to find the answer?  How could we know the answer was true?  What is truth?  Man since the beginning has had a desire to know and understand God.  Peoples from all cultures, tongues, nations, and from all time have inquired, and wondered, “who is God?”  This is the historical record.  The inescapable idea that God must exist grips all and leaves none in peace.  The majesty of the heavens show us the Glory of God.  We see ourselves, the renewal of life on earth every season, the interconnectivity of nature, and we wonder, “what caused this?”  The Cause is always greater than the effect.  We see ourselves as thinking, logical, creative, and reasonable, our Cause must have been more.  We see ourselves as feeling, personable, empathetic, and loving, our Cause must have been more.  We see the world around us, perfectly arranged, interdependent, and beautiful, the Cause must be more than all these.  From this, we can reasonably say, based on our observations there must be a Creator and a Sustainer.  There must be someone who is all powerful, who has all knowledge, and who can see all things, otherwise how would this highly designed order continue?  The effect demands a Cause no less than the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, Holy, and Just God of the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ, JEHOVAH, the Great I AM.  This God is true and He has placed His Law upon all the hearts of men.  We can know He exists thanks to the effect He has wondrously and gloriously Caused.  Only the God of the Bible could have made the Creation we see today.  This is observable.  This is knowable.  This is why all men search for He who made them.

3.  I grew up in what is commonly called a Christian home by 70% of Americans.  My parents took me to Church almost every Sunday beginning when I was a child through my eventual departure to college.  We attended Methodist Churches, I was “baptized” as a baby, I attended Sunday school and Sunday morning services regularly, many summers I would attend vacation Bible School, along with youth camps, and I would assist my family with volunteering efforts organized by the Church.  For many Americans I think this is a common experience.  It’s not unique, generally and without respect to the particular denomination, my experience is the American cultural standard by weight of the majority.  The Methodists, founded by John Wesley and his Brother Charles, were once a fiery Gospel movement in the United States.  Today, the largest continuing Methodist organization, and the one I grew up with, the United Methodist Church, is a shell of the movement’s former Wesleyan legacy.  The United Methodist Church, has many scriptural issues.  Notably, they teach heresies such as baptismal-regeneration, infant baptism, the cleansing of sins through the Eucharist or communion, and they openly endorse female and sodomite bishops.  All deviations from Bible teaching and God’s created order.  This environment of soft Protestantism, with exposure to soft (or new) evangelicalism (I would not refer to the United Methodist Church as evangelical), drawing from the Wesleyan tradition of Holiness (maintaining good works), was my baseline for understanding the world in which we live.

4.  Competing with my Church experience was the American public school system.  Due to the nature of my Father’s employment, my family and I moved several times over the course of my childhood, allowing me to experience a few public school systems in different States.  At the time of writing this I am 33 years old, the time frame for my participation with public schools was from the mid-1990s through the mid-2000s.  The public school system, through its Executive Branch head, the Department of Education, and by the implicit agreement of Congress through the passing of Laws that fund the Department of Education, have in effect, established Humanism as the school’s orthodox religion and have restricted the free exercise of Christianity within their jurisdiction.  Congress passing laws establishing a religion and preventing the free exercise of other religions, is a violation of the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights included in the United States Constitution.  I personally experienced this orthodoxy first hand as a child growing up in the system.  Presupposing God and His Creation was never taught in any of the public schools I attended.  Only theories that presuppose Humanism were taught.  Thank the Lord, however that my family did take me to Church every Sunday, even if it was the United Methodist Church.  God is sovereign.  If something is true it will agree with scripture.  Going to some kind of Church was enough for God to plant a seed.  It was not enough to be saved.      

5.  No man can come to God unless the Father draws him.  God draws all men.  We can resist.  We have a will.  If we resist long enough God will pass us by.  Our opportunity to receive faith will depart.  Who can say it will come again?  The Lord could come again, but there is no guarantee.  Just as there is no guarantee that our hearts will go on beating, or our lungs will go on breathing, or our cells will go on replacing themselves.  Every moment of every day is mercy from God to you and I.  From the most righteous man to the most evil man, all are benefactors of God’s enduring goodness and mercy.  God desires us all to repent and believe the Gospel.  That is His moral will.  In His sovereign will, He will be forced to cast them who do not believe into Hell.  He is God.  His word makes Him God.  If His word were not fulfilled perfectly, He would no longer be God.  Yet, even so, God loves us, He loved us while we were yet ungodly sinners.  God understands His own Holiness more than all.  His Holiness cannot tolerate sin to go unpunished.  If sin, the violation or transgression of God’s words, were allowed to be unpunished, whatever was allowed to violate God’s words would be above God; superior to the Supreme One.  Naturally, there is a need for God to be consistent with what it means to be God.  This is why all sin must be punished.  All sin will be punished in the eternal lake of fire, a flaming inferno of everlasting repentance and torment.  Those that go there will go consciously, and will be forever sustained to suffer the unending wrath of God for their sins.  There will be no escape.  No time length.  No second chances after crossing the vail of death.  No purgatory, or other comforting lies designed to prevent you from worrying about Hell.  You should worry about Hell.  The natural man needs to think about death and Hell regularly.  The knowledge of Hell and our eternal destiny there is critical to understanding our need for the Lord Jesus Christ.  It was the growing competition between Methodist ideas of personal holiness as a means of justification before God, while also being a sinner who did sin regularly, that got the attention of my soul.  This is what caused me to search for answers.  God was drawing me to Him.

6.  After leaving my family for college, the contradictions of my Methodist religious hypocrisy only continued to grow.  Once freed from the restraining power of my parent’s, I only got worse.  Parents are a force for good, they should be obeyed and honored.  I began searching, I wanted to know “what is truth?”  I sincerely wanted to know.  Thankfully, if you seek the truth, you will find it.  God Himself is the Truth.  Whether you know it or not, if you seek the truth, you’re seeking God. Eventually, during my senior year, and after much looking into all kinds of different beliefs and religions, never satisfied, I came full circle back to Christianity.  I realized my rebellion.  Thanks to a man who geared his ministry to reaching people looking into “alternative truth.”  Thank God for him, later I wrote that man a letter and shared my testimony with him, thanking him.  I have a very clear memory the day I realized how Christianity was right all along and that I had been a rebel against God.  I remember standing and looking out my college dorm room window across a river for what seemed like hours.  Thinking and reflecting on my past, what I had done, how rotten I was, and how the Lord Jesus Christ was the only way.  I still wasn’t saved.  I had only acknowledged that Christianity was true.  I was still in rebellion.  Saving faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the word of God.  I understood that God was true, I still needed to hear the Gospel preached with power of the Holy Spirit.  I still needed to repent.  I still needed to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and the Gospel according to the scriptures.  Maybe you had a similar experience, maybe you too realized Christianity was true and it had a powerful effect on you, maybe you thought it made you a Christian.  Maybe.  Make sure it’s true according to God’s word.

7.  On or about the same day I came to this realization about Christianity, a good friend of mine invited me to a Christian men’s retreat at a camp ground.  My friend was a part of our college local Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) club, the event he invited me too was hosted by the club.  As an aside, the same year Campus Crusade for Christ would officially change their name to “Cru,” apparently a focus group determined the word “crusade” was offensive, but peculiarly they also got rid of “Christ.”  Neither their website, nor their Wikipedia page really provide much insight into the name change or its current meaning.  Back to the narrative.  Regardless of my thoughts about Cru, God is sovereign and can use elements of the truth anywhere.  I believe it was providential that I was invited to attend this retreat right at a moment when God had gained my attention.  I may have rejected the offer to attend the retreat if I had not been convinced of the truthfulness of Christianity first.  I attend this retreat, it lasted a few days over a long weekend.  It was men focused, with only men in attendance.  The teachings dealt with several areas of my life I knew weren’t right before God.  I didn’t say much that weekend, I was under heavy conviction the entire time, almost to the point of despair.  I needed to go through it however, I believe God was drawing me in.  The teaching generally was good.  I was convicted.  Yet, I still wasn’t saved.  I was still in rebellion.  There was no call to repentance.  No call to salvation.  Just teaching on sin from the Bible.

8.  I leave this retreat with a new hunger to learn more about Christianity.  I search the internet and come across big names like Ravi Zacharias (at that time he was not in disgrace) and Chuck Missler, both interesting, and I believe God used some of the things they said to help me, but they too were not enough, they didn’t say enough, they didn’t preach exactly what needed to be preached.  Eventually, I come across a sermon called Hell of Hell by a Preacher named Reg Kelly.  Hell of Hell was the first sermon I had ever heard that finally spoke the words from the Bible that I needed to hear under the power of the Holy Ghost.  It was the most real message I had ever heard at that time.  I knew the moment I heard it, it was all true.  It all came together.  Everything God had been doing in my life, it finally clicked.  I was a sinner.  I needed to be saved by grace.  I needed to repent of my sins and believe the Gospel by faith to be saved.  This is the only way.  This was my opportunity.  God was at my door.  What was I going to do?  I listened to Hell of Hell through YouTube which led me to Brother Kelly’s Sermon Audio page.  From there I listened to a few more sermons, I don’t remember them all or the order which I heard them.  Thankfully, most of the sermons recorded their ‘altar-call’ at the end of the message.  The opportunity to respond according to what the Holy Spirit laid on you during the message.  This may seem old fashion, but I thank God brother Kelly kept this in, even if he doesn’t call it an altar.  Thank God for Pastors who still do altar-calls.

9.  I don’t remember the exact message I responded too, unfortunately I don’t think it was Hell of Hell, but it was a message like it.  When I responded to God’s call to salvation, Reg Kelly called out to the assembly at Liberty Faith Church, “raise your hand so I can know to pray for you.”  I am at my parents’ home listening to this recording, by myself, and I raise my hand.  I was broken before God, my body was shaking, and I couldn’t hold back tears as I am transformed from a lost sinner, to a new creature saved by grace through faith.  I had heard brother Kelly preach several times about not being impressed by people who walk forward and make professions; questioning their motivations.  Rather, he preached that you can get saved in your pew, it wasn’t about the act of walking forward, though its ok if you did walk forward.  If you truly get saved, it likely happened before you walked forward anyway, because believing in the heart after hearing the preaching of the Gospel is all it takes.  No actions on our part.  Including walking.  That was me.  I had raised my hand, because I already believed as a result of his preaching the word of God plainly and with power.  I knew I wasn’t in the service.  I knew it was a recording.  It didn’t matter.  I wasn’t able to contain myself.  It was as if I was there.  I had to raise my hand.  If I was there, I would have walked forward!  I was saved!  It was a supernatural event.  There wasn’t anyone looking at me.  There was no big auditorium.  There was no mood lighting.  There was no pressure of acceptance from other people.  If anything, I had every reason to not believe.  But it happened, I was there and so was the Holy Spirit (who is everywhere all the time), I believed in nothing but the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to wash away all my sins.  I knew without doubt from that moment on I was different.  I had been changed and there was no going back.  When God seals a soul, it’s for eternity.  He is God.

10.  This is my experience.  There is nothing special about me.  I don’t have super powers or some special communication with God above other men.  I am just a sinner saved by grace.  I have access to God through His revelation, the inspired and preserved word of God, the scriptures, the Bible.  The Bible is where we must all go to know the answers to our questions.  The Bible is the truth.  While God is the Great Cause of the Universe and knowledge of that Cause is enough to believe He exists, and that He created all things, it is not enough to save souls from Hell.  This only comes by hearing the special revelation of God, His Holy Bible preached plainly, foolishly even, and believing it in your heart.  You must hear the word of God preached.  You must believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who died according to the scriptures, was buried, and rose again the third day according to the scriptures.  Truly believing He did this for you as a substitute for your sins means you repent of all your sins and you’re supernaturally enabled to truthfully confess Jesus Christ your Lord. 

11.  A Christian will live out the true Religion, keeping himself unspotted from the world, he will be a doer of the word and not a hearer only.  Christians don’t need to have their arms twisted to obey God’s word.  They do it willingly and out of love.  The Lord Jesus Christ paid for them with His sinless holy blood making all who believe justified by His atonement.  Therefore, there is no pressure to keep the commandments to establish our own righteousness with God.  We’re made righteous already thanks to His blood.  This is how we know what a Christian is, a Christian will keep the commandments because he loves God.  He loves God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind, with all his strength, and he loves his neighbor as himself.  He goes teaching and preaching to all creatures and nations the Gospel.  Teaching them to observe all things Christ commanded, which is the whole counsel of God.  Christians are spiritual, they have the power and mind of Christ to judge all things through the Holy Spirit.  Christians are to prove all things from the Bible and hold fast to that which is good.  When we received Christ, He supernaturally empowers us to become sons of God through the second birth.  We’re born again unto the Last Adam, a new race of perfectly justified saints of God through faith alone in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.  This is how we know we’re a Christian.  This is how I know I am a Christian.  I know it because God’s record is true.  I believe His record by faith.

12.  I was saved on or about 28 June 2011, I mark this date because it was the date-time-stamp on a private Facebook message I sent to my friend who originally invited me to the Cru Retreat, informing him I had been saved.  The actual event occurred maybe a day or two before hand, I don’t fully remember.  I learned later remembering something like the day you were born again was important!  By God’s providence, I got involved with Independent Baptist Churches in the summer of 2012.  I was baptized by full immersion at Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lawton, Oklahoma in the spring of 2013.  Post salvation the Lord has been immeasurably good to me.  I am married with four children and currently training to become a Pastor and Preacher.  I believe this is God’s will for my life and the life of my family.  I enjoy writing and I write often.  I would like to be a blessing and help to others, sharing what the Lord has allowed me to learn through writing publicly.  I have permission from my Pastor, Pastor Philip Clark of West Coast Baptist Church of Oceanside, California to write here as I train for Christian ministry under the authority of the same Church, which is also my Church.  I thank God for my Church and Churches like it, the local assemblies of born again believers are the Body of Christ, they are the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the Pillar and Ground of the Truth.  They have received the faith from the first century and have carried it through today by the grace of God.