Myths in the Church – Bonita Bible Mission

LOST CAPTIVE UNDONE.

LOST CAPTIVE UNDONE.
Oh, the shackles cramping both my legs in this heat;
My heavy hands hang down, utter total defeat.
My head is bent eyeing their bonds with a stiff neck;
Where are the wise who’ve done no wrong; without defect?

Let them learn from my cries, dead in sins I had vent;
Life was half gone before it dawned I was hell-bent.
God’s finger of Law lit my soul and showed my fate,
When I learned my state, reading commands far too late.

In rebel’s room with no way out, locked and no relief
Beyond belief, when I found that I’m sinners’ chief.
My, oh my! What a plight, condemned and out of sight!
To whom shall I appeal? Is there proof I’m not right?

Surely I’m not that bad; some goodness must avail.
He’ll balance me up, weigh the scales if justice fails.
Then when I appear before the judge, I’ll not fudge.
I’m the man, O Lord, I admit I did misjudge.

But at last, I’ve come to my senses; I can’t succeed!
Pardon is my only hope! To whom shall I plead?
Against the laws that indict my offence
To a just judge, this would not be right. Oh, I’m dense!

Who is this that hearkens my call, coat stained with red?
His voice in the wind calls: “I’ve borne your sin instead
I’ve been bleeding, but how can I help you the best?”
Lord, save my soul from this body’s death; this my quest.

“Come follow me to my tree! Find a sight to see,
Where my burst heart’s water paid penalty for thee
My blood was shed to wash your sins, to blot them out!
I ransomed you to break your iron chains apart.”

John David

John 19:34
But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
1 John 5:6.
This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood..
1 John 5:8
And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood..
*1Titus 3:5-
according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost..
*1 Corinthians 12:13
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body…and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
*Ephesians 4:5
One Lord, one faith, one baptism…
*Ephesians 5:26
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word..

*The sole baptism required for regeneration. To hope in others for it brings damnable false hope.
Poem: John David
Scriptures quoted from King James Version of the Bible (Public Domain)

LOST CAPTIVE UNDONE.

OUR PRAYERLESS CHURCHES (Pt.3)

Since the Reformation, until the mid 19th C the weekly intercessory gathering of the saints was an essential meeting for the whole congregation. From time immemorial this was the secret of survival for the New Testament church at Jerusalem and Antioch when it was still a persecuted and vilified minority.

Today, with very few exceptions, free prayer participation of spoken intercession is a forgotten public meeting. It was once a staple part of the church programme. It has been abandoned as too archaic and old-fashioned in the modern 21st-century hustle, and bustle addicted to restless compulsive busyness.

The unions secured the right of the worker to 8 hours work, 8 hours sleep, and 8 hours leisure. Today’s frenzy of movement, predicted by the ancient prophets, seems to allow time for busy social media, electronic interactive screen communication and entertainment for leisure, leaving little or no time for private devotion to God in the Scriptures and prayer. Much is often determined by their master, the smartphone allowing them any quietude. Heaven forbid that they dare silence or switch it off! Such action would be anathema to their so-called friends sending the latest interactive hearsay rumours.

Truthfully, on average the godfearing and the upright professors of moral rectitude and religion could not possibly stop still in prolonged silence without image, icon or decibel to preoccupy their minds. Why? Because they do not want to be discomforted facing their own naked soul unmasked of its pretence, and spurious profession of walking with the Intercessor: the Saviour.

Prayer, the clergy says, in this ‘modern-day’, can be automated and privatised by circulating lists of their people’s needs to the faithful for their petitions, in private prayer via prayer-chains. Whether by Bible Study hand-outs, email, smartphone, or social media, they are in reality, obfuscating as clergy and elders as they silently proclaim: “Why pray, when the church can SAY it some other way? Viz: said prayers, read prayers, and dead prayers?

When the human spirit prevails in an assembly the spirit of prayer is unwelcome. Preachers and leaders bypass it altogether and relegate public assembly prayer to individual home activity. When this happens hot coals cool; luke-warm embers become cold; broken reeds become more bowed; saints forget how to pray and when they try they are lost for words the vapour of smoking flax ascends. They with the household of faith need the old-time fire of free spontaneous vocal saints’ praying in the midst of the assembly. Without it they are separated from the Spirit’s dynamic of fire that God has deigned to ignite only when saints pour out their hearts aloud to Him. In a day of false-fire, it must be understood that prayer is in the language of the people, not the indulgence in eccentricity via popular hypnotic entrancing gibberish. The latter can be made unwelcome by precluding outsider participation.

The modern church focuses only on public praise in worship of song and overlooks the other. No one denies that God has chosen the ‘foolishness of preaching’ to save, keep, and revive, but only free public prayer generates the fire of the spirit of prayer in the heart of the newborn lamb. Down through the ages until the mid-19thC. our godly forefathers took this as incontrovertible. This was so in the New Testament church at Jerusalem and later at Antioch.

“And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31)

“Gird yourselves, and you priests lament,: you ministers of the altar howl: come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God…Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord.” (Joel 2:13-14)

Credits: King James Version-(Public Domain);
Article: John David

OUR PRAYERLESS CHURCHES (Pt.3)

UNDERSTANDING THE VIRGIN MARY’S HERITAGE

UNDERSTANDING MARY & JOSEPH’S HERITAGE BY ANCESTRY.
MATTHEW 1 (see also Luke 3: 23-38)
Contrary to Rome’s tradition, the genealogy of Mary is given in Matthew 1:1-17. Although it is an ascending lineage from Abraham’s wife Sarah, only three of the Virgin Mary’s matriarchs are familiar to the student and a number are only implied: Sarah, Rebecca, Rachael, and Bathsheba. Thus at first reading, it would seem to be a patriarchal list, because it was written in a strongly patriarchal culture. The three familiar ancestors listed are Tamar, Rachab, and Ruth, as Mary’s matriarchal antecedents. Heli was the father of Mary, but Jacob the father of Joseph with many illustrious patriarchs well known the Bible student.

Luke the physician, the writer of the gospel, and the Acts of the Apostles, gave a patriarchal descending list of forbears of Joseph. He was the Lord’s stepfather because Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Joseph’s wife, Mary. While she was not sinless, as Rome claims, she had not been impregnated with man’s inherent accursed seed (via Adam’s fall) that Joseph would have given her.

Though Joseph’s genealogy is remarkable, (Luke 3:23-38) his ancestry the best of the patriarchs, princes, and kings; God’s curse was nonetheless present in his seed that generated Jesus’ brothers. Only the Holy Spirit of the Heavenly Father could plant a sinless seed within Mary’s womb that would be “holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners”.

The reader must realize that both parents possessed the heritage within the tribe of Judah. Indeed, Jesus is called the Lion of Judah.

The promise made to King David and Solomon, (reiterated time again by the prophets) was that the coming Saviour and High Priest of elect believers, would come from the tribe of Judah to lead another priesthood in his new kingdom of heaven. He would be a descendant of David whose forefathers were shown to be from Judah, the son of Jacob (Israel), and grandson of Abraham ‘the father of all believers’. Remember that Abram met Melchizedek and blessed him with the grace of faith, among other gifts. (Genesis 14) A few verses later in Genesis 15 Abram is at last able to believe the impossible promises he had previously disbelieved and therewith was justified by faith and became the ‘father of all believers’.

Both Matthew’s and Luke’s list of lineal ancestry, are meant to confirm Jesus’ maternal and neo-paternal heritage as the Son of David, the Son of Man, and the Son of God. Yet paradoxically, Jesus Christ our Lord (whose name, before his incarnation, was The Word of God) had no beginning and has no end, just like Melchizedek. Thus the Lord Jesus is the Christ, forever the High Priest, after the order of Melchizedek.
References:
Genesis 14:18-20; Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 7; 1 John 5:7; Revelation 19:13;

Detailed Study: Compare of Hebrews 7 in the following verses:
Hebrews 7:1-3; 7:12-15; 7:17; 7:21; & 7: 21-24.

Scriptures read and referenced are from the King James Version (Public Domain) which was the fifth and last reprint of the first English New Testament (Tyndale 1526). The Reformers published the first New Testaments from the Koine Greek (in Erasmus’New Testament 1516) and translated into European languages. The Greek manuscripts of the NT from Constantinople had only arrived in Europe some fifty years earlier after Islam laid siege to Constantinople.

Article by John David.

UNDERSTANDING THE VIRGIN MARY’S HERITAGE

THE ILLUMINATED BELIEVER. (4)

FOUR STAGES OF THE BELIEVERS FAITH: Unawakened Faith; Awakened Faith; Enlightened Faith; Illuminated Faith.
THE ILLUMINATED CONVERT.(4)
The truly enlightened disciple becomes more frustrated as time progresses and his hunger grows. He is disappointed with himself and his own inner self. One day he becomes so disillusioned with his own spiritual state that he considers quitting altogether.

1. He becomes sorrowful over his inner state and his inability to grasp the answers.
1a. Then still reading the Word, he grows despondent about ever becoming a spiritual person or becoming good enough when he sees so many of his own foibles, failures, and sins.
1b. He wishes he could be more than sorry for himself, but genuinely sorry enough to satisfy God.
1c. He hungers and thirsts for a resolution with a deep longing.
2. It is then after listening to regular preaching of a godly minister in a Bible-believing assembly expounding Christ in the Scriptures that a change will at last occur.
2a. The risen Saviour invisibly presents Himself to his mind.
2b. The glow of His presence is awe-inspiring and HOPE begins to burn within him.
2c. Suddenly doubts are replaced by the gift of grace.
2d. The Bible with which he so often struggled now seems the LIVING WORD of life which had hitherto only been a book of stories.
2e. His eyes are opened and his mind and soul are ILLUMINATED by the regenerating Holy Spirit.
2f. Within this believer, HOPE is accompanied by PEACE is beyond human understanding.
2g. His exuberance makes his spirit revel in JOY.
2h. He has become a new creature in Christ by the power of His resurrection. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
The typical believer who has been awakened and had a measure of enlightenment.
1. His own faith wavers (James 1:6-8) and believes in the Scriptures, but with reservations.
2. His own powers of reason raise obstacles that prevent him from being granted repentance and saving-faith.
3. When he gives up the mental struggle of contending with God and surrenders his mind and his questions he becomes a candidate for grace. (Jeremiah 29:13)
4. When he surrenders self-will and his intellect to God as inadequate in gaining an encounter with the God of grace, then he is near the kingdom of heaven.
5. Thus only when he admits that this life-changing encounter of grace is at the Lord’s behest, that prevenient grace gives the earnestness and patience to wait for the promise.
6. Others have told him that the individual’s ability of choice is enough. But, free-will is a myth.
7. The Bible teaches that man’s volition is biased. His will-power is captive to the curse of perpetual self-will. Adam’s natural streak of rebellion was in Eve as well, because the natural free-will went its own way even before the inherent curse began to plague his descendants of humanity. (Romans 5)
8. Both Eve and Adam rejected eternal life to gain a superior spiritual knowledge of good and evil. Ever since man’s natural propensity from birth is the hidden streak of rebellion that sways his decisions and the course of his direction. Man will aspire to and be content with enlightenment as part of superior knowledge, but in itself will be an obstacle to his illumination and translation from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His dear Son.

9. The curse of hidden inbred sin runs within the natural nature ready to break out at the opportune time. The Reformation re-echoed this forgotten truth of the bondage of the will, so amplified by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans. It was Origen’s writings that allowed the humanists to validate the myth of free-will as an asset of the human persona. This occurred in the church during the Renaissance before the 17th Century and in the Age of Enlightenment (Reason) afterward. Yet human reason, which is such an asset to the intelligentsia and the literati of our world, is the greatest obstacle to the conversion of a sinner into a saint wherein he is redeemed and ransomed by his Saviour giving his life for his rescue.

10. For illumination, the believer first needs to become a wholehearted pilgrim of the Man he follows. Albeit needed wholeheartedness is a constant theme of the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms and was reiterated by Christ and the apostles. (Deuteronomy 10:12; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30)

11. Repentance is the last catalyst to illumination by the Spirit of Christ. Never has there been so little understanding of biblical repentance as in our present day, but godly sorrow is the gift of grace that the human spirit is incapable of simulating.

12. Countless leaders, within the church and without, are completely mistaken about its characteristics and attributes since the 18th C Age of Reason. Thus even the best of believers conjure up unbiblical concepts upon which they rely for their eternal destiny. It is either assumed in affirmation or automated in free-will decision responding to the entreaties of pulpit orators. In neither case is it present. Even in blessed sacraments and ordinances, it cannot be enacted by the elements of water-wine-wafer rites.

The 18th C Age of Enlightenment elevated reason but further darkened the soul emphasizing the ability of human will to be responsible, moral and religious.. Thus the false gospel of moralism is a poor substitute for biblically expounding Christ in the volume of the Book. (Hebrews 10). It rarely occurs in our pulpits’ extemporaneous banter.

While the believer’s enlightenment can arouse the mind to zealous religious fervour, illumination will by grace open the believer’s eyes of his understanding that he might understand the Scriptures. (Luke 24:32;45)

Whereas he had hitherto had a degree of mental understanding by enlightenment, now he will have spiritual perception. Until this point, he has had only a natural understanding of the Word.

Previous to his illumination “his natural man received not the things of the Spirit of God: for they were foolishness to him: neither could he know them, because they were spiritually discerned. Now his understanding of Christ in the Scriptures is not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Now he has received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that he might know the things that are freely given to him of God. (1 Corinthians 2: 11-15)

Peter and the ten other enlightened disciples went forty months before they were illuminated on the day Jesus rose from the dead. (Luke 24:27-32; 44-45; John 20:21-22)

It is possible for a believer to go forty years after being awakened, then enlightened in mind, before he is finally illuminated by grace to be justified by faith.

Bible References
a. John 10:16….and other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice
b. 1 Corinthians 15:3… awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of god:
c. Ephesians 5:14… awake you that sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.
d. Romans 13:11 …it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now, is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
e. John 6:37:… all that the Father gives me shall come to me

f. John 6. 45… every man, therefore, that has heard and has learned of the Father, comes unto me.
g. 2 Corinthians 7: 8-1: …you were made sorry after a godly manner. For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation.”
h. Jeremiah 29:13…and you shall seek me, and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart.
i. John 6:44…no man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.
j. John 6:65 …no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
k. John 1:13…born not of blood, nor by the will of the flesh or the will of man, but of God.
l. Hebrews 9:14; 10:22; Isaiah 55.

** All scripture quoted from the KJV: King James Version (Public Domain).

Bibliographic References
1 Jonathan Edwards: Freedom of the Will (1746) was an evangelist (with George Whitfield) greatly used in the First Great Awakening of New England. He later turned against Reformation and paved the way for New England Theology’s easy religion of the 19th and 20th C’s that has permeated the USA and the globe.

2 William James: Varieties of Religious Experience, was the 19th C Father of Modern Psychology who gave easy-religionists and modern evangelists fuel for their false fire. His inflammatory book’s destruction of biblical conversion great Christians in modern history was his greatest accomplishment and destabilized a large swathe of Christendom. Though he was a certified agnostic he had devilishly influenced the theological halls of Christendom’s seminaries against radical, real, traditional biblical conversion. His philosophy has discredited faith-by-grace in evangelical conservative Christendom for the last 150 years. This is why easy-religion permeates the full cross-section of Christendom today.

THE ILLUMINATED BELIEVER. (4)

FOUR STAGES OF A BELIEVER (2): The Awakened Believer.

THE AWAKENED BELIEVER.
1. Reading the Word of God produces moral convictions and these grow until the reader is uncomfortable. Why? “That sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” (Romans 7:11) The seeking believer then has the choice of turning away from his convictions or continuing with the quest of his soul caused by his awakening call of Christ to follow him. Should he choose to turn away he will then be a miserable soul for whatever time it takes for him to relent from his folly and return as a pilgrim seeker.

Easy religionists of our pulpits today would jump in where angels fear to tread and reassure him with false hopes. Such clergy fail to discern the difference between awakening and conversion. The seeker’s soul will never be placated by the ‘rabbit trails’ of water-wine-wafer sacraments/ordinances; ‘full surrender’; infilling of the Spirit; tongues’ speaking; or full sanctification. Clergy making these alternative easy ways to avoid real repentance have not the slightest inkling of biblical conversion or the meaning of faith by grace that the Reformation heralded some 500 years ago and shelved by 99% of the church today.

2. The moral law and the condemnation it produces in man’s conscience is meant to bring the believer to the end of himself and distrust his own efforts, and the false hopes of his own faith, and his own religious creed/ sacrament.

3. Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity for saving grace. The eleven disciples were in hiding, except John, after the crucifixion. They were at the end of themselves in mortifying sorrow facing their cowardice, disbelief, and failure.

4. This was the opportunity for the risen Christ to change their worldly sorrow into godly sorrow of repentance. Concomitantly the Lord Jesus converted their double-mindedness into genuine godly faith enabling them to believe as the day-star of the Spirit indwelling them.

FOUR STAGES OF A BELIEVER (2): The Awakened Believer.

FOUR STAGES OF A BELIEVER. (1)

FOUR STAGES OF A BELIEVER.
1) The unawakened believer; (2) The awakened disciple; (3) The enlightened pilgrim; (4) The illuminated convert.

THE UNAWAKENED BELIEVER
It is not enough to believe, and there are many believers in the church who have not been awakened. They have never had an encounter with the living Christ’s spirit because they have never sought him with all of their heart. They were happy to have a quick-fix that the church has offered the world since the 19th C. There are varying degrees of belief towards Jesus in the Gospels of the New Testament.

Many religious have never heard the call of Christ. They may read the Scriptures and attend Christian worship services. One day listening to the Bible-based preacher there is a personal response of the believer. He/she is suddenly arrested by the challenge to follow Christ and do His bidding. His whole being is awakened into the reality of Christ’s presence and he/she becomes an ardent follower or disciple.

Unawakened souls are not disciples of Christ, merely religious in mind. They may be in the church, but they do not have God’s presence WITH THEM and are not yet His SHEEP.

The unawakened believer has no knowledge of the Scriptures and he finds the Bible a mystery which he does not understand. He is classed as a walking dead, or ‘dead man walking’. The unawakened believer needs not to procrastinate too long or the day of grace may pass too soon.

The unawakened person may well have knowledge of creed, confession, and written articles of faith, such as water washes away sins.

Awakening does not happen at one’s own behest or the will of the preacher. It is at God’s behest alone. No decision, prayer, water, wine or wafer can compel God to awaken the lost soul, dead in sins and trespasses.

FOUR STAGES OF A BELIEVER. (1)

FOUR STAGES OF A BELIEVER.

1) The unawakened believer; (2) The awakened disciple; (3) The enlightened pilgrim; (4) The illuminated convert.

THE UNAWAKENED BELIEVER
It is not enough to believe, and there are many believers in the church who have not been awakened. They have never had an encounter with the living Christ’s spirit because they have never sought him with all of their heart. They were happy to have a quick-fix that the church has offered the world since the 19th C. There are varying degrees of belief towards Jesus in the Gospels of the New Testament.

Unawakened souls are not disciples of Christ, merely religious in mind. They may be in the church, but they do not have God’s presence WITH THEM and are not yet His SHEEP.

The unawakened person may well have knowledge of creed, confession, and written articles of faith, such as water washes away sins.

THE AWAKENED BELIEVER.
1. Reading the Word of God produces moral convictions and these grow until discomforting the reader. Why? “That sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” (Romans 7:11)

THE ENLIGHTENED BELIEVER.
1. To have an enlightened mind is inadequate to understand the spiritual side of the Bible’s sixty-six volumes. It is the most unusual book ever written and one needs something more than an enlightened mind of curiosity and rational reason to understand its message.

2. Though enlightenment produces zealous interest, curiosity, and understanding of the Bible’s characters, history, and moral directives it is unable to give spiritual discernment of Christ’s grace and redemption. Independent reason will prevent the natural mind from fathoming the saga of grace from Genesis to Revelation.

3. Enlightenment is secretly driven by the Father’s magnetic attraction of the believer to His Son in the Scriptures. Though mistaken today for the new birth, it falls far short of one possessing eternal life. He/she needs the illumination of Christ’s regenerating Spirit.

4. Awakening and enlightenment are all part of the Father drawing the believer to His Son. (John 6)

5. The faith of the believer is not enlightened, only his mind but the doubts of the ambivalent will remain. His own faith wavers all the time. He needs the gift of true faith by grace. Until then he is like the first twelve disciples who were lacking in faith.
An enlightened mind is not enough to understand the spiritual side of the Bible in its sixty-six volumes. It is the most unusual book ever written and one needs something more than an enlightened mind. Though that in itself produces zealous interest, curiosity, and understanding of the Bible’s characters, history, and moral challenges, the enlightenment of the mind is unable to give spiritual discernment of its real message of grace and redemption. Man’s independent reason will prevent it.

The first eleven apostles were unconverted until the first day of the resurrection (Luke 24 & John 20).
It is secretly driven by the Father’s magnetic attraction to the Scriptures. More than anything else that drawing of the Father is paramount. It is not universal, but only to the wholehearted seeker. For God the Father alone can reveal the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who then calls the believer to follow Him. However, he is still in need of illumination by Christ’s regenerating Spirit. Awakening and enlightenment are all part of the Father’s drawing the seeker to His Son.

1) Enlightening has to do with the arousal of the mind, not his faith. Though he may well be a disciple of Christ he is solely reliant on his mind until he is illuminated and born of the Spirit. He needs the grace of faith because no matter what method is employed natural faith remains natural regardless of the psychology used. Humans are natural disbelievers, better described as skeptics. At best natural faith wavers and is ambivalent. He needs the gift of true faith by grace. Until then he is like the first twelve disciples to whom Jesus questioned for their lack of faith.

a. One’s own faith, whether it is childlike or not, is natural, and the natural man receives not the things of God for they are foolishness to him. ( 1
Corinthians. 2:14).
b. Freewill faith, now popular among a full cross-section of evangelists, ministers, and preachers everywhere.
c. Freewill faith is sourced in New England Theology. Its modern resurgence was in the humanist Age of Enlightenment of the 18th Century.
d. It elevated the natural attributes of humanity’s own powers of reason, conscience, and faith and made God the source thereof.
e. Yet the NT clearly describes the degeneracy of mankind through the curse that fell on the human race through Adam.
f. That is the very reason for the 1st Advent, for which Christ was born (the Second Adam, says St. Paul).
g. William James, The Father of Modern Psychology, went one step further by linking FAITH to WILL power so that the two became synonymous. James
attributed faith to any human action towards God, though he himself was a convinced agnostic.
h. James tried to destroy biblical conversion and faith by grace emphasized in the Reformation. He discredited the major evangelists of the Great
Awakening and the Second Great Awakening by his book ‘Varieties of Religious Experience’. This masterful philosopher sadly
influenced the evangelicals and the liberals in their theological halls of learning and seminaries.

THE ILLUMINATED CONVERT.
The truly enlightened disciple becomes more frustrated as time progresses and his hunger grows. He is disappointed with himself and his own inner self.
One day he becomes so disillusioned with his own spiritual state that he considers quitting altogether.

1. He becomes sorrowful over his inner state and his inability to grasp the answers.
a. Then still reading the Word, he grows despondent about ever becoming a spiritual person or becoming good enough when he sees so many of his own foibles, failures, and sins.
b. He wishes he could be more than sorry for himself, but genuinely sorry enough to satisfy God.
c. He hungers and thirsts for a resolution with a deep longing.
2. It is then after listening to regular preaching of a godly preacher in a Bible-believing assembly expounding Christ in the Scriptures that a change will at last occur.
a. The risen Saviour invisibly presents Himself to his mind.
b. The glow of His presence is awe-inspiring and HOPE begins to burn within him.
c. Suddenly doubts are replaced by the gift of grace.
d. The Bible with which he so often struggled now seems the LIVING WORD of life which had hitherto only been a book of stories.
e. His eyes are opened and his mind and soul is ILLUMINATED by the regenerating Holy Spirit.
f. Within him, HOPE is accompanied by PEACE beyond human understanding.
g. His exuberance makes his spirit revel in JOY.
h. He has become a new creature in Christ by the power of His resurrection. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

BIBLE REFERENCES.
Preconditions to illumination (conversion).
REPENTANCE: ( 2 Corinthians 7: 8-10)
1. REPENTANCE is neither automatic nor worldly sorrow (being sorry for yourself). The sorrow of the world works death
2. WORLDLY sorrow is ‘but for a season’. The passing sorrow for one’s own consequences.
3. GODLY SORROW is the gift. You were made sorry after a godly manner. For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation

THE TWELVE WERE NOT CONVERTED UNTIL THE RESURRECTION.
1. The awakened and enlightened Peter had yet to be converted (illuminated). Conversion by the washing of the blood purges the conscience. Hebrews 9:14.
(Hebrews 10:22)
2. Natural faith cannot bring salvation. James 1:6-7. Natural faith is fickle.
3. Conversion by illumination comes alone by preaching, not water, wine or wafer.
a. 1 Corinthians 1:21. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

** All scripture quoted from the KJV or King James Version (Public Domain).
BIBLE REFERENCES
1. UNAWAKENED FAITH.
a. James 2:19. …the devils also believe and tremble.
b. 1 Corinthians 15:34. awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of god:
c. Ephesians 5:14… awake you that sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.
d. Romans 13:11. …it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
2. PROCESS PRIOR TO AWAKENING:
The Father draws the seeker to become wholehearted.[ Deuteronomy 10:12; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30]
a. John 6:37. All that the Father gives me shall come to me…
b. John 6:44. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:
c. John 6. 45. Every man, therefore, that has heard and has learned of the Father, comes unto me.
d. John 6:65 … no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
e. Jeremiah 29:13. And you shall seek me, and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart.
f. John 10:16. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice.

Freedom of the Will 1746; Jonathan Edwards: First Great Awakening who later turned against Reformation & paved the way for New England Theology’s Easy Religion that has permeated the USA and the globe.
Varieties of Religious Experience by William James the Father of Modern Psychology added fuel to the fire trying to burn out the true biblical conversion.

FOUR STAGES OF A BELIEVER.

FALSE HOPE: BABBLING ECSTASY OF SAUL

Babbling unknown ecstatic glossalia was never sanctioned by Paul the apostle, even in the corrupt assembly at Corinth. It is not the gift but a simulation of understandable gift manifest at Pentecost, Caesarea, and Ephesus. 1 Corinthians 14 records not a precedent, but an exception now a delusion since the 1906 Los Angeles’ first Azusa Street Meeting. Even its Pastor, black blind Mr. Seymour said so. (Dictionary of Pentecostal & Charismatic Movements: Ed. Burgess, McGee, Alexander)

1 Samuel 9:2.
Saul’s attractiveness was his sturdy, tall, & unblemished appearance. Goodly did not intone godly character, for he was a self-willed, Narcissistic man from the beginning of his reign until his evil demise from dabbling with witchcraft for answers. His later change of heart and his prophetic utterances were no more than Balaam’s who also was a soothsayer God temporarily used for His purposes when in character he was an unusable mouthpiece. Saul’s momentary decision to accommodate Samuel’s orders was not heartfelt service to God, of which he and Balaam were incapable. Whether a mere equine ass or the wilful giant Saul, they were not beyond transient ecstatic utterance. God can choose to show his omnipotence enigmatically regardless of the vessel chosen.

FALSE HOPE: BABBLING ECSTASY OF SAUL

AWAKENED BELIEVER’S ENLIGHTENMENT.

THE AWAKENED BELIEVER.
1. Reading the Word of God produces moral convictions and these grow until discomforting the reader. Why? “that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” (Romans 7:11)

2. The moral law and the condemnation it produces in man’s conscience, is meant to bring the believer to the end of himself and distrust his own efforts, and the false hopes of his own faith, and his own religious creed/ sacrament.

5. To have an enlightened mind is inadequate to understand the spiritual side of the Bible’s sixty six volumes. It is the most unusual book ever written and one needs something more than an enlightened mind of curiosity and rational reason to understand its message.

6. Though enlightenment produces zealous interest, curiosity, and understanding of the Bible’s characters, history, and moral directives it is unable to give spiritual discernment of Christ’s grace and redemption. Independent reason will prevent the natural mind from fathoming the saga of grace from Genesis to Revelation.

7. Enlightenment is secretly driven by the Father’s magnetic attraction of the believer to His Son in the Scriptures. Though mistaken today for the new birth, it falls far short of one possessing eternal life. He/she needs the illumination of Christ’s regenerating Spirit.

8. Awakening and enlightenment are all part of the Father drawing the believer to His Son. (John 6)

9. The faith of the believer is not enlightened only his mind and doubts of the ambivalent will remain. His own faith it wavers all the time. He needs the gift of true faith by grace. Until then he is like the first twelve disciples to whom Jesus questioned for their lack of faith.

BIBLE REFERENCES.
Preconditions to illumination (conversion).
1. John 6:44. No man can come to me, EXCEPT THE FATHER which hath sent me DRAW HIM:
2. John 6:37. All that the FATHER GIVES ME shall come to me…
3. John 6. 45. Every man therefore that has HEARD, AND HAS LEARNED of the Father, comes unto me.
4. Jeremiah 29:13. And you shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.

REPENTANCE 2 Corinthians 7: 8-10.
1. REPENTANCE is neither automatic nor worldly sorrow (being sorry for yourself). Sorrow of the world works death
2. WORLDLY sorrow is ‘but for a season’. The passing sorrow for one’s own consequences.
3. GODLY SORROW is the gift. You were made sorry after a godly manner. For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation

THE UNCONVERTED APOSTLES UNTIL HIS RESURRECTION.
1. Peter unconverted. Luke 22:32 .I have prayed for you that your faith fail not and when you are converted, strengthen your brethren.
2. Conversion by the washing of the blood purges the conscience. Hebrews 9:14. (Hebrews 10:22)
3. Natural faith cannot bring salvation. James 1:6-7. Natural faith is fickle.
4. Conversion by illumination comes alone by preaching, not water, wine or wafer.
a. 1 Corinthians 1:21. it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

** All scripture quoted from the KJV or King James Version (Public Domain).

AWAKENED BELIEVER’S ENLIGHTENMENT.

FOUR STAGES OF THE BELIEVER’S FAITH. (Part 1)

PART ONE: THE UNAWAKENED BELIEVER.
It is not enough to believe, but there are many believers in the church who have not been awakened. They have never had an encounter with the living Christ’s spirit because they have never sought him with all of their heart. They were happy to have a quick-fix that the church has offered the world since the 19th C. There are varying degrees of belief towards Jesus in the Gospels of the N.T.
Many religious have never heard the call of Christ. They may read the Scriptures and attend Christian worship services. One day listening to the Bible based preacher there comes a personal response of the believer. He/she is suddenly arrested by the challenge to follow Christ and do His bidding. His whole being is awakened into the reality of Christ’s presence and he/she becomes an ardent follower or disciple.
Unawakened souls are not disciples of Christ, merely religious. They may be in the church, but they do not have God’s presence WITH THEM and are not yet His SHEEP.
The unawakened believer has no knowledge of the Scriptures and finds the Bible a mystery which he does not understand.
The unawakened person is classed as a walking dead, or ‘dead man walking’. The unawakened believer needs not to procrastinate too long or the day of grace may pass too soon.
The unawakened person may well have knowledge of creed, confession, and written articles of faith, such as baptism washes away sins.
Awakening does not happen at one’s own behest or the will of the preacher. It is at God’s behest alone. No decision, prayer, water, wine or wafer can compel God to awaken the lost soul, dead in sins and trespasses. The four stages of belief in the New Testament are the unawakened, the awakened, the enlightened, and the illuminated believer.

BIBLE REFERENCES.
John 6:44. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:
John 6:65 … no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
John 10:16. And other SHEEP I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice.
1 Corinthians 15:34. AWAKE to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
Ephesians 5:14… AWAKE you that sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.
Romans 13:11. …it is high time to AWAKE out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
James 2:19. …the devils also believe and tremble.

FOUR STAGES OF THE BELIEVER’S FAITH. (Part 1)