Where is the Holy Spirit? Why has the name of God been blasphemed among every lost person in America? I truly beleive that a lot of this is the churches fault. When God moved in the Old Testament in the life of the Jews the nations stood in awe of God and the power in what He had done. Now we, just like the Catholics, declare unchanged people to be saved (to the delight of the lost world) and they say "where is the power of your god"; and they have every right to do so.
We need to remember that God not only has the power to change lives but He also has the power to cause people to act like their lives have been changed. I have found something very interesting in Ezekiel 36:20-38. When God does a work of salvation He does it for His own glory and for His names' sake. Where is the Holy Spirit and the work of God when we preach the Gospel. I have been taught many things in my life that now, as I study my Bible, am finding them to be false. For instance, I have been taught that the Holy Spirits work in salvation is to reveal that you have a need for God but that is not the whole truth it is just the part that is easy and gives us a bigger number of people coming forward. There is a doctrine that I had never heard of before until recently. It is the doctrine of regeneration. The Holy Spirit not only shows you that you need God but He also causes you to esteem the God that you were an enemy of and causes you to despise the sin you once loved. I had never heard that about the work of salvation, only have I heard it when someone was talking about the work of sanctification. We, in part, have become just like the Catholics. I pray that we stop trying to make things easier than the Bible teaches in order that our numbers might increase. God has chosen to use us as His instruments, lets work wisely and Biblically.
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The questions becomes: How is a person changed? What evidence is required to demonstrate salvation? You write, "Now we, just like the Catholics, declare unchanged people to be saved..." So is it safe to say that if a person claims faith in Christ and yet shows no external signs of change (other than this profession of faith)they are not truely saved? I do not think we can come to such a conclusion with as great a degree of certainty as the writer seems to think.
Nevertheless, you are very correct when you write: We need to remember that God not only has the power to change lives but He also has the power to cause people to act like their lives have been changed. Of course, how else could a person act if God truely changes them...but your most important point is that it is God's work to change people. We can't change others nor can we even change ourselves (at least with respect to our standing in God's eyes, nor in our overall sinfulness). So the question for me is this: How does God change us from lost sinners to found saints? Where and how does this miracle take place? I would love to read your blog on this, for this is where the 'rubber hits the road' so to speak. In Christ, roger
My question is, in the absence of preaching that specific part of the Holy Spirit's work in salvation, does that mean that people cannot be saved unless they know that? Does it somehow cheapen the gospel to present a version that is easier to understand? Realizing your need for God takes place when you "esteem" this God you used to be the enemy of and hate the sin you used to love. To say that the validity of the message or the lack thereof does or does not produce "real" Christians is removing the Holy Spirit from the equation. Truly, we should all study our Bibles, especially leaders, but ultimately God works in peoples' hearts; not only through sermons but through conversations.
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