The Fighting Fundamental Forums

I've heard it over and over and over again from preachers.....

You're not saved by how you feel.....

I've heard if from..... I don't know how many preachers.....Over and over again. I've even watched as people dealt with prospective converts to Christianity struggling to convince people that they're okay....... when they say they "don't feel it"......

I know what I'm about to say is going hurt some feelings. Its going to hurt because it is VAIN TRADITION and people have been buying it "hook line and sinker" for countless years of their lives. 

1. It is impossible to be in the family of God.... Saved.... and not FEEL it. 

John the Beloved said these words.............

1Jn 3:13  Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. 
1Jn 3:14  We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. 

Now before you make a "bad application". John isn't talking about just your brother in Jesus Christ. John is talking about your fellow man. It is impossible to be in the family of God and for you NOT to have feelings...especially empathy/love for you fellow man. Your brothers and sisters in Adam. 

It is IMPOSSIBLE....

You are endless reminded of your former condition and the condition of your fellowman.

2. If you're in the family of God, you will LOVE... Jesus. I mean LOVE.... Jesus.  You're going to have FEELINGS... For Jesus. 

Joh 8:42  Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 
Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

Most people don't love Jesus. You can tell. They never talk to Him. They never speak of Him. He's just a means to end to most of those who do. When was the last time you heard someone pour out their soul extolling the wonderous value of Jesus Christ. I mean people in love talking about the one they love!

3. It is impossible to be in the family of God........and GOD.... not SPEAK TO YOU.... as a SON. It is impossible and for you not to have PEACE that comes along with being within the family of God.

Joh 14:26  But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. 
Joh 14:27  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 

The is a reason the Holy Spirit is called the "Comforter"........

He literally CALMS our fears. CALMS......., our FEARS. 

FEAR has TORMENT...... FEAR is a terrible feeling and fear is what GOD gives those that are not HIS..... 

To HIS OWN.... He gives COMFORT.....

It is impossible for you to be in the family of God and not have the PEACE of God that comes with receiving the Holy Spirit. 

There was a long time in my life.....when I was younger.... that I endlessly feared my position in Christ. People told me over and over to just BELIEVE. Don't worry about how you FEEL. Just believe God has saved you. You're not saved by how you feel. 

Problem is..... I was feeling bad for a reason. I wasn't in the family of God. In fact, I didn't even know enough to even realize what was wrong. All I knew is I didn't have peace. I didn't have the comfort of the Holy Spirit. I was tormented to no end........ because GOD.... wasn't WITH me..... When HE IS THERE.... Oh what COMFORT! Glorious COMFORT.....

Now, this modern age of Christianity will tell you that its the devil that troubles your soul. Its the devil that tries to convince people that they're lost and that is an entirely ridiculous argument. Ridiculous to no end. Why would the devil want you to believe you're lost? You just MIGHT get saved......The Devil doesn't want people to believe they're lost. He wants them to believe their saved and everything is all right. He is a DECEIVER.....

It is God that is troubling you. If God isn't giving you COMFORT.... then you're not HIS...... God gives COMFORT to HIS OWN.....

Since the very day I got truly "born again"......... God has treated me as a son. When I needed comfort. He gave it. When I need convincing... HE told me I was part of His own. When I shouldn't have peace..... God has given me peace. Because He is the GOD OF ALL COMFORT!!!!!!!!

So, if you feel uncomfortable. I ask that you reconsider your position. The Word of God is sharp. The Word of God cuts.... all the way to the bone. It reveals your intents. The condition of your heart. 

That discomfort you're having...................... Just might be God convicting you of your condition.

....... i mean no offense by what i am about to write... ..no doubt some will take offense anyway and consider me stupid simply because i disagree with them..... .......... but i believe in the interest of some of those you might have been talking about, that i must present this subject from a slightly different perspective...  ....

i knew a person a few years ago who said she had felt all those things after leaving her seat during an invitation as a young child.. ... going to the altar and telling the preacher she wanted to accept Jesus.... then praying what they told her to pray.... making a profession of faith and being baptized... ....  ..for the next 15 years or so of her life....through her teenage years and beyond.... she felt conviction of sin.... a love of God..... a love for other people.... a genuine hunger and thirst for the Word of God and the things of God....a distaste for the things of the world....  ..and a real desire to continue learning to walk with God....... .etc..... ... in general an overwhelming desire to be good... and to do good things..... .. ... 

but years later she became convinced she wasn;t really saved because she heard one too many charismatics... and even some non-charismatics... testify about "feeling a great burden lifted off their shoulders" when they themselves had been born again..... ...they spoke of it as if was a real physical thing...... she also heard other christians criticize the "1-2-3- repeat after me" method many churches used with children and heard them say if you couldn;t remember every detail about the exact moment you got saved.... and simply repeated a prayer... then you probably didn;t get saved... and were still lost....... .. she began to realize that not only had she never felt such a sensation of a burden being lifted when she had gone to the alter as a child.... but that there were also many details of that experience she couldn;t remember... she began to think she might have been one of those they talked about and began to doubt her salvation..... to make things worse others told her she might not be saved because though she was not afraid to express her faith in public she didn;t shout out praise to God as loudly or openly talk about Jesus as enthusiastically or with reckless abandon like they did..... ...they did not know she had grown up un an abusive household where she and other children had been made afraid to even breathe in their parents presence lest they get back handed for annoying them.. .... and she herself had begun to believe none of that mattered anyway.. ..........

as a result she spent the next several years on a quest to get "truly" saved......  she prayed about it constantly.... made multiple confessions of faith and was even baptized several times.....  each time hoping to get that feeling of a weight being lifted or that "salvation buzz" as she later called it.... but it never happened..... 

then after hearing calvinists talk about predestination and election.. she decided she must be a part of the non-elect and therefore condemned..... permanently outside the family of God...... she became depressed and dropped out of church altogether... .....  and that is where she was when i met her when we worked together at a coffee shop..... she had given up on trying to "get saved"... said she didn;t want to talk about it..... but ironically continued to anyway even after i agreed to change the subject..... . ..... from how she described her life before she determined she was hopelessly lost it was obvious many things in her life had changed... ...... but i could also see those things she had felt as a teenager had never really left her..... even though she allowed herself to do unchristian things the conviction of sin was still there... as well as the desire to be good... ... doing those things made her miserable.... ..... and the hunger and thirst to learn more about the things of God... (even though hearing about it all depressed her).... was still firmly intact.... ..  and she still had a real distaste for the greater things of the world... ...did not accept evolution or atheism and even defended other christians .... and even still had a love of God.... though she had come to believe that love was not returned... ... ....outwardly though, she was doing nothing at that time that could be seen as openly serving God.... ..... i can;t remember now what sparked our conversation about religion and salvation.... but it was during a slow period at work... and it happened as if it was meant to be.... ...

but to make what could be a very long story short..... i told her that i got that "weight being lifted" feeling all the time after taking the medications i am on..... it was due to an endorphin release...and by the drug causing a release and redirection of serotonin in the brain.... one of the actions of which causes mood elevation..... .. a few days later my sister told her if she asked those people who testified about the "big weight being lifted sensation" they would probably admit their salvation experience was not the first time they had ever felt that... ...or even that strongly.... . some people get a serotonin and endorphin release much more easily than others..... especially when experiencing new things and taking part in new things..... but the thing that convinced her she had made a mistake in assuming she was outside the family of God was a close examination of luke 18; 16-17.... and the sections in both matthew and mark that give account of the same and similar events....... 

"but Jesus called them unto him, and said, suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. ....... verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein."

matthew 18;2-4..."and Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,.... and said, verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.....whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."


studying scriptures she realized that when she had heard Jesus call to her as a child she had not resisted...she had obeyed Him... she had left her seat and walked forward to where she truly believed He was.... she arrived at the altar already a part of the Kingdom of God.... . she had been saved the moment she left her seat......  ......and to make more of what could be a long story short she recovered her faith... got back into church.... and eventually began going out on saturday mornings with the homeless ministry i am a part of.....

summary.... ... it;s true some people work too hard to discount "feelings".... and especially to suppress emotions.... even writing off some of the things people testify to as being emotionally driven.... ...... ..but at the same time too much can be made of feelings and emotions as well...... especially physically oriented feelings that many people do not understand and that too many things can effect.... or that different people experience and express in different ways..... .  ....and while it can be beneficial to encourage people to examine themselves and be certain they have not been deceived by the devil in regards to salvation...... it can also be a great tragedy and disservice to cause someone to lose faith and believe God wanted nothing to do with them.... especially when they answered the call of Jesus as a child...... ..... the devil works his deceptions in that direction too. .... and Jesus Himself warned against those who would attempt to destroy the faith of children who believe in Him...

matthew 18:6.... "but whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea....."



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