CHAPTER 1 -

The life of the convert and his condition before God

 

 

 

 

Before we begin to study how a convert or a religious person can be saved, it is good to take a look at the life and status of the convert before God. There are certain features that are typical for these people and also for religiousness in general. Most of these features are common to all converts, even though there are also some differences between different groups, because of the number of people living in this condition.

   In any case, we can mention at least the next typical issues in this area:

 

THE LIFE OF THE CONVERTS

 

When talking about the life of a convert, we can actually differentiate two groups:

 

People who emphasize the Law. The first group consists of persons who gladly accept that they must do good things, fulfill the Commandments and be in continuous connection with God. They may be the same kind of active Pharisees as the Apostle Paul was before his conversion, they evangelize, and might even become monks or nuns.

   However, it is difficult for these people to accept that we – with our good works and attempts – are under the judgment of God and that we can be saved only by the grace of God. Instead, they strongly emphasize the Commandments, adopting as their mottos some of the following statements:

 

- "Faith alone is not sufficient; one also needs good deeds."

- "Do this and you will live!

- "If you want to enter eternal life, follow the Commandments!

 

People who emphasize the Gospel. The second and larger group has embraced a clearly evangelical view. It is easy for this group to believe in the love and in the grace of God, in the atoning death of Christ, and in God taking care of them. But the problem for this group is that they do not have a spirit that fears God. They think that they are ready in their relationship with God and have figuratively placed Him in His own little compartment, which they visit only when it suits them and their conditions. Their relationship with God is like that of Felix, who said to Paul:

 

- (Acts 24: 24-25) And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.

25  And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go your way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for you.

 

These people can also live double lives. In religious issues they can be quite spiritual, but when they are taking care of their everyday life, they may make sure that God cannot affect them in any way. Their problem is that their heart has become attached to this world and they want to serve two masters. This is impossible – as the next verses of the Bible indicate:

 

- (1 King 18:21) And Elijah came to all the people, and said, How long halt you between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.

 

- (Matt 6:24) No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

 

- (Luke 14:33) So likewise, whoever he be of you that forsakes not all that he has, he cannot be my disciple.

 

The lines below written in the style of a diary illustrate the nature of this group. These lines reflect what the convert thinks about his or her Christianity and what it really is. The underlying message is that the person is comfortable in his relationship with God and does not want any changes in it:

 

But I didn't need such a Jesus who commands us to hate our own lives. I didn't need Jesus to be the conciliator of my sins. I don’t think I had a lot of sins anyway. (…)

   Of course I want to be a Christian. I am also sure that all that has been written in the Bible is true. But I don’t have such a need of the word of God, which would make me read the Bible or go to listen to it.

   To Martti, God is different. You can see that he deems God holy and doesn’t want to go against His will. That I don't understand. I also deem sin a serious thing. But as Luther says, we sin every day in many ways, and the important thing is that Jesus has already carried our sins on the cross. Martti is afraid of committing a sin on the grounds that grace covers them. He fears that if we start to think that because Jesus has reconciled all our sins, it is not so important if we sin a lot or a little. He says that if we live our lives as we want, we will go astray.

   My answer is that that just isn’t true, because Jesus has also reconciled that sin too. Martti is not of the same opinion. When a Christian no longer takes sin seriously, it shows that he has gotten used to sinning and started to accept it as a part of life. Those to whom this happens will go astray, despite how familiar they are with the Christian dogma.

   When I speak with Martti, I become restless about the idea that I too would go astray. I ask myself whether I ever really found salvation. (…)

   Before, I would have laughed at something like that. I regarded faith in Jesus as my own personal issue, not having much to do with my family. I didn't really think that my faith would have any significance in real life. Now I understand that it is what makes all the difference. (…)(2)

 

CONTENT WITH THEIR STATE

 

What is typical for some persons whom God has saved and awakened is that they are never content with their own spirituality and spiritual life. On the contrary, they may be very much aware of being miserable human beings corrupted by sin. Similarly, they may worry about not being able to lead a better life. For example, the well-known "apostle of the Pentecostal movement of North Europe," T.B. Barratt, has well described this condition through his own experiences. In this description he also describes his baptism of the Spirit:

 

It took place yesterday, Sunday, October the 7^th, between 5 pm and 6 pm, and now I will tell you all how it happened. My soul is burning! I feel as if I was the happiest man in the world. Everything has become new. I am full of joy, peace, and love towards God and all people! Through the days he has led me, my heart continually shouting, “Forward! Forward!” Since my difficult illness over 20 years ago, there have always been forces, good forces, which have driven me forward. The question of sanctification has been my dearest subject; I have fought for it, even though I have not experienced it. (…)

   But how wretched I felt in my own eyes before the purity and holiness of God! I saw my own ambition, selfishness, stubbornness, and carnality. Oh, my God, I saw so much, so much that would grieve the Holy Spirit! I was broken and bent to the ground over and over again. (3)

 

Similarly, Romans 7 describes this well: Paul talks about his life. Paul writes, among other things, how he in the light of the law of God deeply understood his inadequacy and imperfection – issues that converts usually knows only in their speech:

 

- (Rom 7:18, 22-24) For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

 

It is very typical for converts to be content with the current state of things. They are content with their own holiness and repentance, and think that even God is content with them. They can also compare themselves to other "sinful people" (Luke 18), and unavoidably feel that they are better than others.

   The next example nicely describes a person who can find comfort in his or her own mind and life. John Bunyan writes about it in his famed book The Pilgrim's Progress (p. 164,165). This example also shows how many converts see salvation:

 

   Ignorant: Do you think that I am so stupid that I would not know that God sees more than I do? Or that I would come before God under the protection of my good deeds?

   Christian: What do you think about this question then?

   Ignorant: Briefly, I think that I must believe in Christ in order to become righteous.

   Christian: What on earth? You think that you must believe in Christ, even though you do not understand that you need him? You do not understand the original sin or your weaknesses and you think so highly of yourself and your good deeds that you think you do not need the righteousness of Christ before God? How can you then say that you believe in Christ?

   Ignorant: But I do believe.

   Christian: In what way?

   Ignorant: I believe that Christ died for the sinners, and that I will be freed before God from the curse when He in His grace accepts my obeying the law. Christ thus makes my religious acts acceptable to the Father because of what Christ has done for us, and that justifies me.

   Christian: I want to answer your statement of faith.

1. Your faith is fictitious; it is not described in the word of God.

2. Your faith is wrong, because it takes righteousness from the righteousness of Christ and connects it to your own.

3. According to your belief, Christ does not justify you, He first justifies your acts and you yourself only after that – which is quite wrong.

4. That is why this belief is deceitful and will leave you under the anger of the almighty God on the day He returns. The real righteous faith receives a soul that understands being doomed before the law, and escapes to the shelter of the righteousness of Christ. His righteousness is not an act of grace by which He would change your obedience into righteousness, He himself was obedient before the law when He suffered and did what was needed for us. This is righteousness that the right kind of faith receives, and when the soul is wrapped in it, it can step in front of God as pure, accepted and free from judgment.

   Ignorant: What? Should we trust in something Christ has done without us? In that case, our desires would take a hold of us and we could live any way that pleases us. That would mean that the righteousness of Christ would be enough to justify us everything, no matter how we live, as long as we believe in it.

   Christian: Ignorant is your name, and you really are equal to your name – your answer proves that. You are ignorant about what real righteousness is, about how faith in righteousness can save you from the anger of God. And you are just as ignorant about how faith in the righteousness of Christ affects you, how it can win the heart to God in Christ, make one love His name, His word, His ways, and His people, not at all like you, the ignorant, imagine. (Translation from the Finnish version.)

 

Also, these people do not understand the seriousness and sinfulness of their own condition. They are unaware of any sins that would accuse them; or at the most, they may admit to having committed some "little sins" which, however, "don’t matter so much." They really do not have the above-mentioned understanding of the internal corruption in one’s heart’s, simply because they have never totally been in the light of the holiness and the law of God.

   However, it is vitally important for us to understand our own condition. It is not important in itself, but it makes us understand our imperfect condition and turn to the Savior, to Jesus. Only a person who understands his own bad, damned condition and sinfulness can understand the need for the Savior. If we have not understood this basic issue, we probably have not received salvation yet. The next verses, among others, teach us about our being sinners and under the judgment of damnation without Christ:

 

- (Isa 53:6) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

 

- (Rom 3:23) For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God

 

- (Luke 19:10) For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

 

The problem of converts is just this: when they continually speak about what "they have done" and compare "their goodness" to others, they do not yearn for the Savior of sinners. Only when we understand that we are in our own righteousness damned and under judgment, can we be saved if we turn to God. However, the salvation of these people is often more difficult than that of others, because they strongly hold on to their own goodness. The well-known late Finnish preacher Niilo Yli-Vainio could easily recognize this when meeting these kinds of people. He said that it is very difficult for these people to see their own condition before God, and because of that, it is also very difficult for them to accept the Gospel:

 

It has been at least 25 years since I held meetings in a municipality in Southern Ostrobothnia. God gave a lovely revival, and these days there is a congregation full of life. I especially remember one elderly woman. I talked with her often about the blessedness of her soul. She was extremely godly and converted in the full meaning of the word. I tried to tell her that she too was a sinner before God and needed personal salvation. But I could not get any hold of her. She assured me repeatedly and in many ways that she had not done anything bad to anybody and that God would take her into Heaven as such. In fact, she know nothing about salvation. I wondered how could I show her that she too was guilty before God. But then I remembered that these kinds of people are often very stingy and greedy for money. (…)

   From the human point of view, it sometimes seems to be totally impossible for these kinds of "great", egocentric people to be saved at all. Sometimes, it simply seems to be impossible to show these people that they have sinned, when in most cases they themselves do not think that they have done anything bad or wrong to anybody. They always think that other people have done so, not them.

   Countless times I have totally failed in my work in trying to show the converts and religious people that they are sinners and in need of salvation. Sometimes I have been totally irritated with people who do not understand that they are sinners before God and need Jesus as their Savior. But praise God for this wonderful verse in the Bible, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible”, Matt. 19:26. (4)

 

"LOWERING THE BAR"

 

When converts are content with their condition they usually also create their own image of God. They form this image based on how they think God sees their life and what God demands from them. They may think that when they first do their best, God will be satisfied with them. They do not understand that they, with their acts and self-satisfaction, are constantly law-breakers, lost and in a bad state because they are not as perfect and sinless as God. This is indicated in the next verses:

 

- (Gal 3:10) For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

 

- (Jam 2:10) For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

 

They may also think that God does not demand from them any more than what they are able to do, "because God cannot demand the impossible." They in a way lessen the demands of God’s law concerning them, and "set the bar so low" that they will not be guilty before God. So it is possible that they may say, for example:

 

- "At least I try. Nobody is perfect. I don't believe that God demands perfection.” (5)

 

The late preacher C.O. Rosenius well described how these people think, and how a wrong kind of conversion generally takes place. He talks about the same matter: how converts set the bar of God’s law so low that they can in no way be guilty before God:

 

This can only lead to bad. Some become coarse Pharisees, who can easily be identified. Others become Pharisees in a more refined way.

   They know very well that no one will be declared righteous by fulfilling the law, as Paul says. They never intended to choose that, but somehow have been drawn to it. It started with them looking for salvation. They read the word of God, prayed, and defied the world and sin. They noticed that they really changed from what they were, and thanked God for that. They had a miserable luck in getting comfort and peace from becoming better people. But how did this really happen?

   Perhaps they were never really awoken? They assured themselves only of the danger of walking the wide road and chose the other road. They were sure that now that they walked a different road than the world in general, everything had to be in order. They put away a few sins and changed their way of life, but did not understand that God looks into our heart. Neither did they understand what being born again means but were satisfied with changing their life in a few areas. And when they were not perfectly content with themselves, they thought, “Christians also have their faults, but God is merciful”.

   Here and there, they also started to bargain about the law: no way can God make unreasonable demands! In this way, they arranged their lives and put their bar so low that they escaped from being guilty in the eyes of God. If they somehow took into consideration the fact that the purpose of the law was to bring about repentance and depression, they thought that everything must be all right when they felt bad about some sins in their conscience. But they were never entirely under the judgment and anger of God.

   Putting it briefly, this is the wrong kind of conversion. It is impossible to dig into all the details but briefly, it can be put like this: one who has never lost his wrongful hope about the grace of God, who has never failed in his conversion, never entirely been under the judgment of God, has never really turned to God and been saved. (6)

 

The problem of converts lies in minimizing the demands of God’s law and insufficiently feeling guilty because they do not understand that God's law, the expression of His (God’s) perfect will and His inner nature, cannot be changed (because God does not change) but is always perfect. This perfect law thus indicates to the convert – and to others – that they have not obeyed it but are law-breakers and sinners and accursed, as the verses above teach.

   Only when they understand that they themselves are in a bad position – like a man who is drowning and cannot save himself – does the good news about how Jesus Christ came to save sinners sink in. Only when converts give up their self-satisfaction can God save them, just like saving a person who is in a shipwreck:

 

- (John 3:16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

 

- (1 Tim 1:15) This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

 

What is the greatest sin?

 

At this point let us consider whether or not we are great sinners. As one problem for the converts is that they do not understand their sinfulness before God, so they make themselves guilty of the greatest sin, according to the Bible. They have committed the greatest sin without even knowing it.

   This is mainly because of the greatest Commandment: to love God with all our heart every single moment. The greatest sin must be not obeying this Commandment. Therefore, we have committed the greatest sin:

 

- (Matt 22:36-39) Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37  Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.

38  This is the first and great commandment.

39  And the second is like to it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

 

In order to make this completely clear, let’s look at it also in the light of the next statement by R.A. Torrey. He talks about meeting a person who, as a convert, did not understand his condition before God:

 

A real life example can help to clarify this Bible verse. I once talked with a very talented young man, who clearly had no feeling of guilt or longing for the Savior. When I asked him if he was a Christian, he answered that he had always been one. There was, however, something in his behavior indicating that he did not have a clear understanding of what was meant with being a Christian. I then asked him if he had been born again, but he still did not understand what I meant. After that I asked him whether he was aware of having committed the greatest sin a man can, to which he immediately answered, "No, I have never done that.”

   I proceeded by asking him which sin he deemed the greatest of them all, and he answered, "Murder”. I took out the Bible, opened it at Matthew 22:37, 38, “Love the Lord your God” and so on (…) and asked him to read these verses, which he did. Then I asked him, "This is the first and the greatest Commandment. What sin is then the greatest?” He answered, "I suppose breaking this Commandment would be the greatest sin”. After that I asked whether he had always obeyed this Commandment, loved God with all his heart and with all his soul and with his entire mind, and always searched for God. He answered that he had not. I then asked him, "What is your sin then?” The Spirit of God made this come clear to him and he answered seriously, "I have committed the greatest sin a man can commit, without knowing it.” (R.A. Torrey, Miten johdamme ihmiset Kristuksen luo, p. 21,22)

 

SEEING JESUS ONLY AS A MODEL AND PREACHING

 

If we look at converts’ view of Jesus, we can see that they may indeed think highly of Jesus. They may regard Him as an outstanding teacher, a good example, a prophet, and even the Son of God; these are all features the Bible teaches us about.

   But the problem for converts is that because they live in the above-mentioned condition of self-sufficiency and self-satisfaction, they normally forget about or at least invalidate the most important aspect: Jesus’ atoning death for our sins by which we are saved. When converts do not notice or understand their own sins, this also remains unclear to them; they normally ignore it very quickly and turn their attention to other "more interesting" aspects of faith. In fact, this kind of a person does not live by the good news of how in Jesus Christ there is atonement for our sins but only sees this as an irrelevant detail, even though so many verses in the Bible clearly teach that Jesus most importantly died for us. He was not only a good teacher and role model. The foundation for Apostle Paul’s life and the core of his message was the atonement of Jesus, not just His providing an example for us to follow, as the next verses illustrate:

 

- (1 Cor 2:1-2) And I, brothers, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God.

2  For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

 

- (Gal 6:14) But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.

 

- (1 Cor 1:17-18) For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

18  For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but to us which are saved it is the power of God.

 

The messages delivered by some converts who are preaching also shows us how they think. The teaching of a convert or a priest who is not a true believer seldom concentrates on what Jesus has done for us. Instead, their preaching usually focuses on issues like inequality in society, fighting against poverty and oppression, commands, values, peace, world politics, unity, fuller life, responsibility, and caring for your neighbors – issues about which any humanist might speak.

   When speaking about Jesus, they usually refer only to the exemplary life of Jesus and His high moral standards, and forget the heart of the Gospel – the death of Jesus for our sins – even though only that will bring life and salvation to people.

   The next message written by D.L. Moody well describes the preaching of this kind of a person. In this example, the preacher taught about Jesus’ role as an example, Jesus’ life, and held sermons on moral issues but did not mention anything about Jesus dying for us:

 

I once stayed in a town of this province, and a young man came to me and said, "If you are right, it means that I am wrong, and vice versa: if I am right, you are wrong.” As I knew him to be a preacher I said, "I have never heard you preach but as you have heard my sermons, you can tell on what you disagree.” He said, "You preach the death of Christ and I preach His life. I tell people that the death of Christ has no connection with salvation. You tell them that the death of Christ is the only thing that can save them, not His life. I do not believe a word of this.”

   I asked him, "But how can you explain this Bible verse: ‘Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree?” "I have never preached on that.” "What about the Bible verse ‘without shedding of blood is no remission?" "I have never preached on that. "What then is your opinion of this: ‘For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” "I have never preached on that either.” "Well, what do you say about this verse then: ‘But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was on him" "I have never preached on that either.”

   I asked him, "What do you preach then?” After considering for a moment, he answered, "I give virtue sermons.” "You do not talk about the atonement at all?” "No, I do not. I cannot do that because then I would be guilty of deceit. I could just as well leave my priesthood without a word.” I said to him, “Virtue sermons about Christ, without saying anything about his death!” This young man admitted that it had sometimes felt like a deceit. He was honest enough to confess this. If we take away atonement, it is all just a fairy tale. (7)

 

THE OBJECTS OF INTEREST AND PRAYER

 

Regarding the converts’ objects of interest, we can say that these people are generally not interested in others being saved, born again, filled with the Holy Spirit, or in the progress of God’s Kingdom on Earth.  A person who has been born again most of all yearns for these things and speaks about them, but a convert is not at all interested in them.

   To a convert, Paul’s above-mentioned wishes and those mentioned below are very strange and distant. A convert does not wish for any of these, even though they were the most important things during the early church:

 

- (2 Thess 3:1) Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you

 

- (Rom 10:1) Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

 

- (Rom 9:1- 3) I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,

2  That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.

3  For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh

 

And how could converts be interested in these issues, since they are not even interested in the salvation of their own soul! As they themselves do not want to get a clear and solid relationship with God, neither are they interested in the lives of other people. Things that interest them are generally concerned with ordinary and earthly issues. So, when two converts come together, they generally discuss such issues as politics, sports, their neighbors' faults, fishing, hobbies, and other similar issues. They happily talk about these issues, and these are the things that also occupy their minds. In a way, they talk out of the overflow of their heart, as Jesus says:

 

- (Luke 6:45) A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

 

- (Matt 6:21) For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

 

The same thing also concerns praying: converts do not pray – if they pray at all – for a revival in their hometown. Instead, their prayers concentrate more on themselves and on earthly pleasures. They typically pray for their own well-being and for everything to go smoothly for them. These are not bad things to pray for, but it would be more important to pray for God’s will to happen and His work to go forward.

   The well-known late Finnish preacher, Niilo Yli-Vainio, referred to converts’ prayer motives and how they concentrate only on themselves. He wrote about converts’ egocentric prayers as follows:

 

Over and over again rises the question of why a convert or a religious person prays at all. What is the deepest and most fundamental need that they bring to God? Why do they pray Our Father in Heaven throughout their life, without ever fully experiencing the message?

   We sometimes meet converts who say they pray a lot. But why?

   It is a shocking fact that all of the "Christian" activities of a convert are directed only to himself. He himself is the central point of his whole service, not God. He prays for the sake of himself, not because he wants to meet God, and not for other people to come to know God. He only prays to make sure he has a good life here on Earth, food, clothes, health, good job opportunities, a fat bank account, a carefree retirement, God to bless his activities, his business enterprises, and everything that concerns his personal life on Earth. (8)

 

RESISTING THE WORK OF GOD

 

One of the not-so-nice qualities of converts is that they resist the work of God. They resist it either by rejecting God’s purpose for them or by means of direct resistance. If a revival comes to town, the first to rise against it are not the ordinary people, but the priests and religious persons who do not know God. This took place during the times of Jesus and also before that, as the next verses indicate:

 

- (Matt 23:13) But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in.

 

- (Luke 7:30) But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.

 

- (Isa 63:10) But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.

 

- (Matt 26:59-60) Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death;

60  But found none: yes, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses,

 

It is indeed difficult for converts to understand people turning to God and the work of God. To them, all revivals are always an offence; they are "sectarianism," "fanaticism," "wrong faith," or "foreign faith," while they themselves have "the right doctrine" and "the faith of their fathers." If people start to wake up from their sinful life, they regard it as a disturbance of the church’s peace. They are just like the man of whom the evil spirit said, “you torment me not" (Mark 5:7).

   The interesting thing is that these people are not at all interested in the condition of the souls of other people, even if they were deep in their sins and on their way to damnation. Instead, when people start to repent and turn to God, the resistance of these people immediately rises. The next case describes this kind of a situation:

 

The enemy often paints white black and black white. When a town is under spiritual death and darkness, when the shepherds and their herd are asleep, things are usually supposed to be all right. People suppose that they have the right faith and doctrine. If revival comes to town, many are ready to condemn it as sectarianism and as an effect of wrong faith that must be stopped. Many who become believers in those times end up suffering a bloodless martyr’s death because their faith is deemed wrong.

   In one town where God saved some people, a man visited each one of them warning them and urging them to turn away "from the wrong faith." I once had a chance to say to this man, "It is quite strange that you now worry about these people who have been saved. Why did you not worry about them when they were living a sinful life?” (9)

 

ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE WORD OF GOD

 

Converts may have some respect for the word of God. They may even regard it as the word of God and believe that biblical events have really taken place.

   But as to the practical side of life, we must note that this kind of religiousness always has its own interpretations of the word of God. What is written in the Bible is not enough, these people always apply their own traditions and opinions on every issue.

   These days this can be seen in Western churches where the views of people are not based on the Bible and the word of God but on polls of public opinion, and their own thoughts. For example, attitudes towards homosexuality, immorality, and even damnation ("all people can enter Heaven"), are not based on the Bible but people themselves decide what the correct attitude is and consider themselves to be a greater authority than the Scriptures, Jesus, or the Apostles. Most converts are certainly like this.

   What the convert does not understand, however, is that when he or she tries to be "broad-minded" and makes his or her decisions based perhaps on what they perceive as the commonly held opinion or some other similar issue, he or she at the same time undermines the word of God and deems it unnecessary. These people are quite like the Pharisees who during the time of Jesus acted in a similar manner for the sake of their traditions. There is not much difference between the two. Jesus said to these hypocrites who nullified the word of God:

 

- (Matt 15:6-9) And honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have you made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.

7  You hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,

8  This people draws near to me with their mouth, and honors me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

9  But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.