SALVATION

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. John 3:3-7

The means of salvation is by being "born again." This is known as regeneration. It is the work of the Holy Spirit.
The process of regeneration, or "new birth," causes the spirit of man and the Spirit of God to be joined together. Because this is God the Holy Spirit Himself, this resulting ONE nature is everlasting. The spirit of man and the Spirit of God are forever "one spirit."

S/spirit

But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:17

Here lies the very heart of salvation.
From the time the Holy Spirit enters and regenerates a person forward they become ONE Spirit. The Bible no longer distinguishes between the sprit of man and the Holy Spirit within him. That is not to say that man is in any way God, or that the Holy Spirit is in any way contained within man's body.

Once joined, there is never again the possibility that the person may be separated from God.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38,39

It is through this oneness with God that the life in Christ is experienced. It is through this oneness that the Christian obtains the absolute assurance of his salvation and eternal destiny.

No rules of "religion" will ever be able to cut off man's spirit from God. No sins committed by the Christian in his body or mind can cause a split in the one spirit now at the root of his new nature.

MAN

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: Genesis 1:26

After all the rest of creation was completed God turned to a final special work. The entire universe and every kind of created being had been "made." They were spoken into existence. Man was unique. He was "formed" by God from the elements of the Earth.
Being formed in the image and likeness of God has multiple implications.

In some essential manner the human form is representative of God. The principle illustration of this is in Jesus Christ Himself. The eternal Son of God came to dwell among us in human form. More than that, the glorified body in which He now and forever reigns is human in form.

Secondly, after the manner of the Trinity, Man was created with a tri-partite nature.

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7

This verse reveals the three components of the nature of man. From the earth itself came the BODY of man. Into that body God breathed His SPIRIT (this like no other living being of creation.) The spirit energizing the physical body created the living SOUL of man.

The BODY was made from the earth and functions to allow man to interact with the world surrounding him.

The SPIRIT which was breathed into him is the means by which man relates to God (Who is Spirit).

The SOUL of man is composed of the MIND, WILL and EMOTIONS. It is by the soul that man is conscious. By this consciousness he is aware of himself.

GOD

The Bible begins as the universe began . . .
"In the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth."

It begins in that manner for two reasons. First, the Creation is told by Moses as a corrective to all of the false alternative stories which had arisen in the intervening time. Secondly, to begin with God is to set the path for all succeeding knowledge. The person who does not acknowledge God need not pursue the matter any farther. For, the Bible tells us, "The fool has said in His heart, 'there is no God.'" (Psalms 14 & 53)

The TRINITY

God has revealed Himself to us through His word, and later through His Son, Jesus, and finally through His Spirit.
He has revealed Himself to be ONE God in THREE Persons.
It is impossible in human terms to fully understand how this can be. Yet it is so, and any who deny it at this point in time have to be considered outside the realm of Christian belief. With the centuries of debate and ponderings, the searching and weighing of the Scriptures, the result is the absolutely concrete truth of the Trinitarian nature of God.


Even though it is impossible to fully illustrate an infinite God in a two-dimensional diagram, one similar to the type shown here has been most helpful to people for centuries.
By following the Diagram one can quickly see that the ONE GOD is revealed in Three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each of these three IS God, while at the same time each IS NOT the other.
The Father is God, but He is NOT Jesus.
Jesus IS God, but He is NOT the Father. Yet at the same time Jesus is able to say, "I and the Father are one" without contradiction.
The Holy Spirit IS God, yet He is neither the Father nor the Son.

REVELATION

Third in the series SALVATION: A Technical Explanation

In light of the fact that God created man a rational being, it is logical that God would want mankind to have knowledge of Him. Of foremost concern in that knowledge would be what requirements God has for man.
It is fair to ask if God has any requirements at all. That is, whether He created the universe and man, and then simply let them loose to run throughout time on their own while He simply sat back and watched.

God has progressively revealed His plan for mankind.

He has shown in progressively clearer and ever more detailed ways who He is, and what it is that He desires. He has had people live out their lives as examples, each one showing a different aspect or fuller view of God's complete plan. He has provided an account of these things in the Bible.
In the Bible the lives of the people, and the acts and edicts of God, are recorded for all succeeding generations to see and gain understanding.
As previously covered in the discussion of religion, the central element in this revelation was the need for the sacrifice of a life to atone or "cover" for sin.

The Bible gives the following accounts:

Adam and Eve - After they had committed their sin, they covered themselves with leaves. God showed that more than a plant was needed to cover up their sin. God replaced the plant coverings with the skins of animals to give Adam and Eve a "cover" for their nakedness before Him. (Genesis 3)

Cain and Abel - Cain offered plants, Abel offered animals. God accepted Abel's sacrifice and rejected Cain's. (Genesis 4)

The Law and the Day of Atonement- On the set day each year, the high priest went into the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle and sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice upon the Mercy Seat. So each year the sacrifice was made to cleanse the people of their sins from the previous year. (Leviticus 16)

Jesus went to the cross, taking upon Himself the sins of mankind. (Ephesians 2) The book of Hebrews tells us after that He entered into the Heavenly Temple. As the perfect High Priest who Himself was without sin, He there poured His own blood upon the Mercy Seat. This sacrifice met the need to once and for all time cleanse those of us who believe in Him of all of our sins. (Hebrews 9)

The closing chapter on Revelation is The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John the Apostle. In this, the last book of the Bible is recorded the things which will come to bring about the completion of God's dealings with His creation and man.

RELIGION

Second in the series: SALVATION- A Technical Explanation

Throughout the history of humankind there has been an inbuilt desire to relate to God.

Cain and Abel, the first two people born, felt that desire and so initiated the first acts of "Religion." Religion is the attempt to approach God by performing some act. Cain and Abel made offerings. Many older religions revolved around various offerings or sacrifices to the many "gods." These offerings were made to appease the gods, to make them happy, to bribe them into helping the people, or to meet the gods' desires for "victims."

After God gave the Law to the Jews, religion became more and more the practice of keeping regulations of lifestyle. That is what the main thrust of religion remains to be today. People "do" things in order to approach God; to please God; to become "like" God; some even supposedly to "become God."

Those who believe in "the Judgment Day" do the things they think will weigh in their favor when God judges them, weighing the good and the bad to see whether they should go to heaven or hell.

It was through the Bible, and the Law given to the Jews that the true God explained the reason for sacrifice. That reason is Sin. Sin is the wrong that people do. The wrong which separates them from a pure and holy God. God provided a means for removing that sin. That means of removal was the sacrificial substitution of an innocent life for the life of the sinner.

Those who are raised in a "christian" cultural environment are indoctrinated into the concept of Judgment of all people by God when they die. Religion says that the decision made for either heaven or hell is based upon how well the person has managed to adhere to and accomplish the rules and regulations that have been laid down.

In that context the person brings up the claim,
" I'm basically a good person, and I try to keep the 10 commandments."
Any honest review of such a statement shows it to be an admission of ignorance. The person does not really have any idea what he should have done and is simply hoping for the best.

Through learning the true nature of salvation a person can move from this position of hopeful ignorance to one of solid knowledge. As a result he eventually understands that his claim quoted above is completely irrelevant in relating to the determination of his eternal condition.

SALVATION: A Technical Explanation

This is the first in a series of posts on Salvation: A Technical Explanation

"I'm basically a good person and try to keep the 10 commandments"

The above quotation is widely the beginning and the end point of the general response to the subject of "salvation."

It also leads quickly and directly into the topic of "judgment."

While salvation is such a broad topic, judgment is virtually always the immediate topic raised. This may be expected, since it is judgment that one is "saved from."

Those who submit to this premise of judgment, and salvation as an outcome of it are victims of what Dr. Dwight Penecost calls:
" 'a mischievous habit' " that has led the Christian world to speak of the judgment as being one great event taking place at the end of the world, when all human beings, saints, sinners, Jews and Gentiles, the living and the dead, shall stand up before the great white throne and there be judged. Nothing can be more wide of the teaching of the Scriptures."
(quoted by C. I. Scofield in Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth, The Five Judgments, chapter 5)

Counteracting this "mischievous habit" (actually a Great Lie) will be addressed in this series by the presentation of the truths of God pertaining to the facts and mechanics of the Salvation Process. It is for this reason that it is here referred to as a "Technical" explanation.
This by no means implies a "scientific" explanation, which is not rational. For example, one would not employ Chemistry to explain Music, the two are of different spheres and unrelated. Science is of the physical realm and can in no way explain the spiritual one. It is at the same time not principally what would be an academic "Theological" explanation of "Soteriology" (the study of Salvation in a fancy word).

An apt analogy may be that an engineer designs a car, a mechanic repairs it. The mechanic is a technician following a Technical Manual explaining the components involved and their functions. This manual does not go into the theory, the physics and electronics, but, rather, the parts and how they fit and work together to accomplish locomotion.

In coming installments the following topics will be addressed: Salvation, Judgment, The Trinity, Religion, The Revelation of God, The 3 Part Nature of Man, The Cross, Faith, Life after Salvation, Life after Death.

The Exodus Decoded

I saw a History channel program on the Jews and their Exodus from Egypt.
I began watching with my usual trepidation. How many of these shows bring in the "theologians" that explain awayall that the Bible said?
But this show was GREAT! It repeated what we have seen over and over and over.
When truth seekers take the scriptural accounts and look for who and what they say, where they say and when, marvelous thing occur.
I cannot recommend this program highly enough!!!

From the History Channel:
The story of the Exodus invokes an epic tale--Pharaohs and Israelites, plagues and miracles, splitting of the sea and drowning of an army, and Moses. It's at the heart of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. After much research--working with archaeologists, Egyptologists, geologists, and theologians--filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici concluded that the Exodus took place hundreds of years earlier than thought. With a new timetable, Jacobovici reexamined artifacts and discovered that the traditional consensus on the date was reached without reference to Judaic texts that record the oral traditions. When Jacobovici consulted these texts, they revealed names of people and places unknown to researchers until recently when extensive excavations in the Nile Delta took place. Teaming up with special effects designers, he created a unique digital experience of the Exodus. Blending archaeological findings with eye-catching effects, Jacobovici creates a virtual museum to showcase his discoveries.

One can only imagine what all will come together when (if) the Egyptians allow full and open exploration of the archaeological sites. And even more when Jerusalem is treated with scientific respect. Although I wonder if that won't take place when the Lord returns and rules from there!

The Gnathograph

Is there anyone who could be led to believe that this device will help this person speak with grace, compassion, love or truth? Or not curse or lie?
Could such a tool help to follow the scripture,"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." Eph. 4:29

James says, " For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. James 3:2,3
Yet there are those who would apply the epistle of James as this type of device with the goal of making Christians demonstrate their salvation through their works, that is, conforming to the commandments given by Christ.As this mechanical device is an external tool forcing compliance to a predetermined path, these people would apply the law to outward appearance of behavior.
We must distinguish the body (soma) from the flesh (sarx). It is not the body which causes us to sin.

All change must come from within. It is the Spirit, through the mind, controlling the body which brings about holy living.

h/t: Modern Mechanix

Carl Jung, darling of the "spiritually minded" psychologies wrote extensively on alchemy.
As noted in these two quotes from crystalinks.com-
"He conceived that the Christian religion was part of a historic process necessary for the development of consciousness, but he thought that the heretical movements, starting with Gnosticism and ending in alchemy, were manifestations of unconscious archetypal elements not adequately expressed in the varying forms of Christianity."

"For Jung, alchemy was not the search for the substance that would transform lead into gold, but the transformation of the soul on its path to perfection."

As all who forsake the Bible as the source for this transformation, Jung and his psychologically minded descendants turn to the doctrines of demons for guidance.

Rather than according to the true book of knowledge which tells us-
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 2 Peter 1:3

they neglect the true way of transformation-
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:1,2