Years ago I was discussing salvation with some friends. Some of them said they knew exactly when they were saved. Some stated that they went down to an alter and "gave their life to Jesus" and were thusly saved. I struggled to try and remember exactly when I was saved and how it came to pass in my life. I was saved in 1971. I was not saved in a church and was not even saved by someone witnessing to me. In fact I did not know any Christians at the time. I worked at a local mall in Pittsburgh and would walk to and from work after school. I was saved by reading a tract. I do not remember where I found it or if someone gave it to me. I remember reading it while walking back from work. Frankly it was not a very good tract, or rather it was not a tract that appealed to the mind of the reader. It was filled with strange pictures that were supposed to represent the heart of a man. It showed Jesus sitting on a throne located in the little man's heart. While I could certainly see what the author was saying, it did not make a lot of sense to me. A throne in your heart? Asking Jesus into your life? It left me wondering what I was supposed to do and how to do it. The good part is that the tract did have scriptures. Of course I read those scriptures along with the parts that made no sense. I kept the tract and read it several times over the period of a few weeks. I bought a little pocket testament and read through it. I cannot tell you exactly when it happened, but at some point it clicked. The Word was inserted into my spirit and I was saved. I do not remember praying or asking the Lord to do anything. I did not see where the Bible said to do or ask such things. So when my friends were talking about when they were saved and decisions that they made, it kind of confused me. I do not remember making a decision or asking the Lord to do anything. I just became aware that I too knew that Jesus was Lord and that He died for my sins. I cannot remember saying "ok, I accept that, I believe that." I do not remember deciding anything along these lines. I just remember "knowing" it was true.E.W. Kenyon said that he never tried to get anyone to believe anything. I can see that. You can imagine trying to talk someone into accepting that invisible things exist. How would you do that? How would you talk someone into accepting that an angel was present in the room with them? The mind exists in the realm of logic and memory. The mind may say the words "I agree, there are invisible things", but that is essentially "magical thinking." This means the words are just being parroted without any understanding behind them. It is like saying "the dog is a cat." That is a grammatically correct sentence, but logically it is just a jumbled collection of words that make no sense. And the mind exists in the realm of sense. This is not faith. I have tried arguing people into belief. The arguing did not work. I have tried rationalizing people into belief. That did not work either. In desperation, I have tried playing on their emotions and even their fears. This did not work either, and in fact, may have had the opposite effect. We need to return to the simplicity of the Gospel. All these approaches are attempting to get people to make a mental or emotional decision for Christ. They may work occasionally, at least superficially and for short while. If they stick and remain, it is not because of our efforts to convince them. They usually only remain for a period of time proportional to the depth of their dedication, conviction, and emotions. These efforts do not result in salvation because they do not result in actual spiritual belief. Belief does not come by choice or emotional conviction. These are soulical methods used in the realm of the natural. Belief is spiritual. True belief comes by spiritual revelation. You cannot talk someone into belief because faith is a function of the spirit and needs to be acquired by spiritual methods.7/30/21. Reduced Price
