Chapter 6 -

"The wrong kind of conversion" and a wrong assurance

 

 

 

  

In the foreword we talked about how a person can be like a “foolish virgin.” He can attend church and act and speak like a Christian, but has no spiritual foundation in Christ.  These people really can exist; they look very Christian but have not yet experienced living faith or been born again. These people can also be quite knowledgeable about Jesus, and appear to be living in His company, yet in fact they are not saved:

 

- (Luke 13:26) Then shall you begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in your presence, and you have taught in our streets.

 

But if these kinds of people exist, how have they ended up like this? How have they become "foolish virgins"?

   We try to clarify this below. We will consider the act of conversion, and look at right and wrong kinds of conversion. Then we will study the kinds of meetings and situations that create foolish virgins. Finally, we will look at the wrong kind of assurance that some foolish virgins may also have, and also at the fruits of conversion.

 

How DOES THE right kind of conversion and RE-BIRTH take place?

 

Three overlapping events are generally associated with conversion and spiritual re-birth. We will consider each one:  

 

1. Understanding of own condition

2. Repentance and turning to God

3. Receiving

 

1. Understanding one's own condition. The first event associated with a genuine conversion is understanding one’s condition. This is not a precondition of salvation and not to be forced or squeezed out of oneself. Our part is simply to turn to Jesus and give Him permission to step into our lives. In any case, we can see the following points in this issue:

 

Seeing our own sinfulness. First of all, we see our sinfulness in a new way. Different things in life, including sins that we may have passed off lightly and not been bothered by at all, will rise to the surface and we wish that we had not ever done those things and that we could be different now. We may also see our former life as having been full of sinfulness, and in the light of God see our present life as just as sinful. This kind of a new condition is described in the next verses:

 

- Eze (36:31) Then shall you remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

 

- Isa (6:5) Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the middle of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

 

The next excerpt describes the condition of this kind of a person. In this example, a person describes how he – before his genuine conversion – experienced a false conversion that did not lead to a new life. He writes:

 

Earlier, faith in my mind was most of all a matter of will. I gave my life to Jesus at a winter camp and experienced an enormous feeling of freedom. I thought that this freedom was an assurance of being saved and so I started to live like a Christian. Among the young, I had been converting others to become similar kinds of Christians as I was.

   I now understand that I myself also belonged to that group of people who faithfully walked with Jesus when He was on Earth. They saw His acts and heard Him preaching. (…) But they never became His disciples. (…)

   Now I understand that I have been just like that all these years.

   When I gave my life to Jesus at the winter camp, I did so because people have to do so in order to become Christians. After that, I only had to start living like a Christian. I thought I could do that by hanging out with other young Christians.

  I now understand that during all that time that passed from the camp to this day, I hadn't properly received Jesus into my life.

 

It feels strange that I did not feel lost or helpless before I started to search for God again. I knew everything was not as it should be, but I wasn't worried about that. I was a Christian after all; I had done everything one must do to become a Christian. The mere thought of not being saved felt impossible.

   (…)These days I simply just do not know whether I am a child of God. I now completely understand Martti. There really is cause to wonder whether I am a Christian at all.

 

I told him about my conversation with Martti, and about the terrible time I had the following autumn. By them, I had begun to realize that I was full of sin and misery. I was astonished that Jaakko had never experienced that. Or if he had, it must have been years ago. He no longer considered himself a great sinner. He knew he was one, but did not have any personal feelings about it.

   (…) I was brave enough to say that his problem was not knowing God as He really is. The law had never had the chance to make him feel defenseless or guilty before God. Therefore he did not need the Gospel. (16)

 

One does not find comfort in himself. Understanding one's own condition is associated with our not finding comfort in ourselves and in our lives. We are not contented with our own repentance or sanctification, and have given up on ourselves. We see that in ourselves there is nothing that would be good enough for God.

   Feeling discontented with ourselves is important because it leads us to see that we must turn to Jesus. When we realize that there is no way we can save ourselves on our own, the good news of Jesus doing so much for us comes to our rescue. It is only when we have lost hope in saving ourselves that we start looking for salvation outside of ourselves, from something Jesus has done for us.

   On the other hand, we may remain content with our condition. If we continue to happily think, "I also have some good qualities" (before God), even though we admit to committing some sins, we have not yet experienced a real conversion. We might have only experienced a false conversion, as the foolish virgins.

 

Seeing things in the light of God. The third event associated with understanding our condition is seeing it as it has always been and as God always sees us. We realize that we are damned, separated from God and sinful, and can in no way save ourselves. We realize things that have always been true, but only now become alive to us. Seeing the truth about ourselves is possible by considering our condition in the full light of God’s Judgement. (If this seems strange to you, don’t worry. Simply turn to Jesus and confess being a sinner needing salvation. He will save everyone who turns to Him.) Consider:

 

To illustrate this, let us think about two non-believers. One of them knows that he is a sinner. He has been in many spiritual meetings and often heard preaching on sin. The clear preaching has made him understand that he is a sinner. When he applies this to himself, he may still speak about it laughing, as if the matter meant nothing to him. The other person hears the same preaching and is faced with the light of God. The Spirit makes him feel so guilty that he throws himself on the ground and confesses, "Oh dear, I really am a sinner". He has not only heard that he is a sinner from the word of God, he has also "seen" this to be his real condition. He condemns himself. He is deeply depressed. Understanding all this, he can confess his sins and receive salvation from the Lord. After this, he will never speak lightly or jokingly about sin that he has "seen" in himself. But the previous person who spoke about his sinfulness as a joke has not "seen" it and for this reason he is not saved. (17)

 

2. Repentance and turning to God. The second action associated with true conversion and salvation is repentance: turning to God. It does not mean improving oneself or attempting to become better in order to earn God's approval. There are no acts of remorse or other deeds that we should do before we turn to God.

  Instead, we must turn to God but do it immediately. Giving ourselves and our life completely – without conditions – to God requires that we change our minds. This is described in the next verses:

 

- (2 Cor 3:16) Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.

 

- (Acts 20:21) Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

- (Acts 9:35) And all that dwelled at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord.

 

The story of the prodigal son is another example. He did not have any personal merits; he turned to his father as he was, and admitted being a sinner who did not deserve forgiveness. He received forgiveness because his father, as an act of grace, had mercy on him. The same applies when we turn to God: we will receive forgiveness as an act of His mercy and grace: 

 

- (Luke 15:18-20)  I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you,

19  And am no more worthy to be called your son: make me as one of your hired servants.

20  And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

 

3. Receiving. Receiving is connected with a genuine conversion and being saved. Mere realizing of our damned condition and the need for salvation do not help us any way – just as it is of no use for a shipwrecked person simply to realize the condition he is in – we must also receive and not reject salvation. Realizing one's distress does not help but being saved from it does.

   So, as salvation is a gift, we must also receive it as a gift and not reject it. It takes place simply by asking Jesus to come into our lives, because in Him there is complete salvation (Acts 4:12). If we have received Him, we have then the adoption of God and eternal life, as the next verses indicate:

 

- (John 1:12) But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

 

- (1 John 5:11-13) And this is the record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

12  He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of God has not life.

13  These things have I written to you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.

 

What kind of situations or meetings MAKE foolish virgins?

 

Looking at the kind of situations that generally produce foolish virgins, at least two (or perhaps more) common cases can be mentioned: the fear of hell and ordinary difficulties in life as well as certain kind of meetings. We will look at both of these separately:

 

The fear of hell and difficulties in life. The fear of death and going to hell, and daily struggles in life, can motivate people to convert to Christianity, though this is generally a false conversion. Such a conversion is characterized by one having a very strong sense of religious behavior and morality. These persons may call to God for help with all their strength and promise to repent. They may also pray, read the Bible, confess their sins, and try to change their lives. It seems as if -- they may even believe this themselves – they really have received a new life. But what is unfortunate is that this state normally lasts only for a short time. This kind of a person may have experienced the "quick conversion" described in the Book of Jeremiah:

 

- (Jer 2:27) Saying to a stock, You are my father; and to a stone, You have brought me forth: for they have turned their back to me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.

 

It is good to understand that the fear of judgment or bargaining with God cannot bring about real change; real change comes only from one turning to Jesus and wanting to follow Him unconditionally. We should also remember to distinguish between repentance under the law and repentance according to the Gospel. A characteristic of legalist repentance is that it only gets us to fear the anger of God and damnation, while the latter produces the fear of sin. The earlier is only worldly sorrow that does not bring about life and generally fades after the fear of judgment or after life's troubles ease. The latter, however, is Godly sorrow that brings about repentance leading to salvation and life (2 Cor 7:10).

  The fear of judgment and hell was written about by John Bunyan, the well-known preacher. In his biography (p. 48) he refers to the people who did not receive eternal life after all:

 

What scared me most was having seen a few people rather looking for relief from their distress than forgiveness of their sins, even though they were crying and praying when they were hit by their conscience. They also did not care about how they could get rid of their debt, as long as they got it out of their mind. Having been freed from it in a wrong way, they had no part in sanctification, but were hardened and blinded even more, becoming worse than ever. This scared me, and I prayed to God that the same would not happen to me.

 

Bunyan described this (the conversion that comes from the fear of hell and judgment) in his other well-known book, The Pilgrim's Progress. We include this excerpt from that book because this matter is so important (own translation from Finnish):

 

   Hope: As we are now talking about him, we could also consider why he and similar kind of people so quickly give up.

   Christian: It might be useful, but you go ahead and start.

   Hope: As I see it, there are four reasons for it:

   1. Even though their conscience has been awakened, their minds have not changed. When the guilt eventually subsides, they no longer have any reason to be religious. That's why they turn back to their own ways. In the same way a dog who becomes sick from the food it has eaten keeps vomiting as long as the sickness lasts. It doesn’t do it out of its own free will – if we can say that a dog has a will – but because of its stomach being messed up. But when the sickness is over, the dog doesn’t detest its vomit, and so it turns to eat the whole thing. It is true what has been written, “A dog returns to its vomit,”. Because these people try to get into Heaven only because of the fear and fright of Hell, their yearning for Heaven and salvation subsides as the fear of judgment and hell disappears. When the feelings of guilt and fear have disappeared, the hope of Heaven and happiness will disappear and they will return to their own ways.

   2. Another reason is that slavish fears captivate them. I now speak about their fear of man because the fear of man will prove to be a snare. Even though they seem to try to get to Heaven as long as the flames of Hell roam around them, they immediately withdraw when that fear weakens. They want to be wise and not endanger everything for the sake of something they are not sure about, or at least want to avoid getting into unnecessary difficulties. So they return to the world.

   3. The shame of religion is an obstacle in their way. They are proud, and religion is in their eyes low and despicable. When they have lost the fear of Hell and the fear of the forthcoming anger, they will return to their former ways.

   4. To them, thinking about guilt and fear is repulsive. They don’t want to see their misfortune before they are confronted with it. If they were to look at it with open eyes, it could drive them to escape to where the righteous run for protection, but as I said, they reject thinking about guilt and fear. When they have gotten rid of their fears and thoughts about the anger of God, they will harden their minds and choose a way that increases their hardness.

   Christian: You are close to the truth: behind everything is the fact that the mind and will have not changed. That's why they are like a criminal standing before a judge, seeming to repent from the bottom of his heart, but only because of the fear of the gallows and not because of his crime. This is seen from his actions: when he is free again, he will steal again and is thus still a criminal; if his mind had changed, he wouldn't do that.

 

Certain kinds of meetings can also bring about a false conversion. They can lead to a person’s experiencing some kind of a conversion but not receiving life. Characteristics of these kinds of meetings are, among other things, the following:

 

No Gospel. The first and the most remarkable feature is that the sermon does not contain the Gospel for sinners. It does not state our state and condition before God; how we are apart from Him, sinful and damned; similarly the sermon does not tell how God alone wants to save us and how we have already been reconciled and our sins have been paid by the crucifixion of Jesus.

So, when someone gives his or her life to God in this kind of a meeting, it is only about them attempting to save themselves, like making a New Year's resolution. It is similar to many heathen religions in which people themselves try to build a way to God. When the Gospel, the news about the work Jesus did for us, is not preached, it unavoidably leads to a person trying to replace the salvation of God with his or her own work. They may not understand that salvation is received as a gift, and one cannot do anything to earn it.

   The second issue connected with the first stages of becoming a Christian is that perhaps the law has never had the chance to make a person feel helpless. Perhaps it has never had the chance to indicate his or her guilt before the judgment of God, and the person being unable to save himself. When a person has not seen his or her own wretched condition, they do not necessarily understand their need for the Savior and salvation. Things may remain superficial so the Godly sorrow that is associated with genuine conversion may not be experienced. It is understandable that people coming from this kind of situation or these sorts of meetings are similar to foolish virgins.

People becoming foolish virgins in certain kinds of meetings is described in the following conversation (J.F. Lövgren: [Våre lamper slokner] Lamppumme sammuvat, p. 85,86). It discusses how certain kind of preaching can only create confessors, persons following others, but does not bring about real life:

 

- A feature of the foolish virgins is that they have a confession without life. People can, by themselves, adopt a religious attitude. People start to follow Christ by their own decision. People may raise their hands and choose the new way of life offered to them. But the miracle of being born again and life from above can only be given by God and by God alone! Your preaching brings about confessors, persons following others, but it does not bring anyone new life.

 - Why is that?

   Ling bent to his master.

- Because there is no Gospel in your preaching!

    Ling jumped from the chair and began to pace back and forth on the floor.

- Were you offended by what I said?

- Not at all! But it is difficult for me to sit still when you're killing me with slow, painful strikes!

    Ljunghed was not a killer. He sat and looked at his visitor. His eyes were in tears. He suffered for his brother, and with him.

   Finally Ling sat down.

- So you think I don't preach the Gospel.

- No, you don’t. For the basis of your preaching is wrong.

- What is my basis in your opinion?

- That a man is not damned!   

    Ling gave a deep sigh.

- Aha. So you mean that I don’t use enough words to tell people how miserable they are!

- I mean that your attitude towards people is that they are not completely bad and damned. When God has a chance to work on us refine our will and actions so -.

- The task of the preacher of the Gospel is to assure people to choose a new life and new goals! Ling interrupted, irritated.

    Then Ljunghed said something that felt like he had put the knife on Ling’s throat:

- Herbert, have you yourself been born again?

    Ling turned pale.

- Y-es. At least I hope so.

- How did it take place? Did you force yourself into salvation, did you get all sentimental about it or was it an act of God?

- Now you're speaking rubbish, Ansgar. God was behind my will. I wanted to be saved, and as a consequence I was born again. Of course being saved is the act of God.

- Born of human decision, Ljunghed pronounced heavily. - Is that so? Is that what salvation is?

- You mean that I too... I too... I was a foolish virgin?

    Ling's hands trembled noticeably.

- Perhaps you are. I can only say that that your sermons have helped me to understand how the children of God are made by man...

- Herbert, you gather the pieces of a broken man who has gone astray and by appealing to his remaining selfishness and instinct of self-preservation start to sew him back together with beautiful promises. Then you blow the breath of suggestion to scrap heap that is his life. And so, spiritual life sparks in the old man. But in fact, he is just a mere slave who has seen the daylight.

- Terrible, cried Ling, - Has this been the part of all those who have bent to the hands of God in my meetings?

- That I do not know, Ljunghed said. - Certainly some have been saved in spite of your preaching. They have received direct guidance from the Holy Spirit. God will save them through the Holy Spirit, who has come from Heaven.

    Ling rose and started to pace on the living-room floor.

    He stopped by the window and looked out. Then he took a handkerchief and wiped his eyes.

 

Tactical methods can be used in these kinds of meetings. Different tricks are used such as compelling music. This same danger exists even when we sing worship songs in which more focus might be placed on creating "a gorgeous atmosphere" than on God. Continuous choir singing and filling the message with touching stories are used.  The goal is to get people to experience powerful feelings and thereby come to some kind of a religious solution. Generally, the preacher also knows beforehand when the people will cry or laugh and to which results certain kinds of tricks will lead.

   The main difference between "normal" meetings (in which the Gospel is preached) and these meetings is that the main emphasis in the latter is on the tricks and methods and not on what God has done for us and on our condition before Him. The main emphasis of these meetings may also be on feelings, not letting the word of God do its job in peace. Normal preaching of the Gospel can also arouse feelings, but manipulation of emotions should never be intentionally done. Our feelings are meaningless and cannot save us.

   The well-known Chinese preacher Watchman Nee, who is perhaps more aware about this issue than many people of our time, addressed this practice. He describes those things that are generally connected with these kinds of “revival meetings.” He also says that the effects of this kind of a revival generally vanish in a couple of weeks or months because people have not really been born again:

 

How are the revival meetings usually led? (I am not against rousing believers, this I want to make clear enough. I am only asking whether the leading of these kinds of meetings comes from the Spirit of God.) Is it not true that in many revival meetings a certain kind of an atmosphere is first created so that people would be excited and warmed up? The choir will repeat and repeat a song to warm the audience. Some shocking stories will be told to add to the atmosphere of the testimonies. These are methods and tactics but not the power of the Holy Spirit. When the atmosphere has been warmed up, the preacher will step on the stage. Already when he preaches, he will be conscious of the results he wants to achieve that day. He has prepared in advance various strategies. He assumes that he can get some people to shudder and some to cry through skilful planning – sins will be confessed and conversions take place.

   This kind of an awakening must be renewed every year or so, because the effect of the previous medicine will slowly evaporate and the old situation will return. Sometimes, the effect of the meetings already vanishes after a few weeks or months. In the beginning of the revival, great enthusiasm and willingness is shown but after a while, all of that has gone. This is because of the lack of real life. (18)

 

The consequences of these meetings are often such that, with time, people realize that everything is based on nothing at all. Even though some people may experience very powerful feelings such as regret for sinful actions, fear of God’s anger, or joy, time often shows that these feelings really were much ado about nothing. The real change or permanent fruit of the Spirit may not be seen at all, people have only gotten some kind of a brief emotional experience that will not change them in any way.

   The next example refers to this:

 

We have ended up with a situation where everything is acceptable as long as we "get results". If music that has been created by the devil can get young people to make a decision to turn to God, it is accepted. How dangerous! Most of these young people have been touched only on the level of the feelings. The Holy Spirit has not penetrated deeply into their hearts to expose sin. They have not been urged to abandon the world, their old habits, and old friends. Only a little or not at all repentance of the heart can be seen. In the end, it's like voting for Jesus, giving Him one vote. God in His never-ending grace draws some of them to Him, but only because of other convictions they have. (19)

 

In the meetings of so-called sleeping or trance preachers people can also be converted and experience "salvation," even though there is no real change and rebirth in their hearts. The next example tells about this kind of a case. In this example, a former trance preacher tells how she had to preach under the influence of an evil spirit, knowing hidden things and even advising people to pray for their salvation. There was a man whom she pushed on his knees and advised him to do so. The woman herself was later freed from this spirit.

   We can thus understand that if it was an evil spirit (= a demonic "python" spirit, Acts 16:16 and Deut 18:11) that affected this person, it could not have led people to the right experience of salvation – even though the message were to seem Christian. Nor could this kind of a "falling into a trance" be God’s way of acting (quite the contrary: the evil spirits require people to be like passive machines, and this is characteristic to mediums: trance preachers are completely like them, even though the message seems to be Christian), because He never requires passiveness or inactivity in people.

   This former trance preacher tells about her former activities and also about being freed from them as follows:

 

The following week I had a meeting again in Kotka. That is when I fell into a trance and I did not know what I was preaching. This took place every evening at 7 p.m. for six months. I did not know anything and could not remember a word I had spoken, but there was a spirit in me who knew in advance all that would happen.

   People were amazed and happy that there now was a seer among them, and gathered in multitudes to hear my sermons. I preached and prayed for people and unveiled hidden things. (…) Once, when a group of boys had come to our house, I took one of them from the shoulders and forced him on his knees and ordered him to pray for salvation. I myself was often on my knees before people praying for them. (…)

   When I had been freed from this spirit, I called a doctor and when I told him that I had gotten rid of the spirit by reading the Bible and praying, he said it to be cheap medicine. After that time, doctor Sederholm has often asked about the state of my faith. Thank God I have been able to answer that it is constantly becoming stronger and stronger.

   Yes, I believe that each trance preacher can be freed if he or she wants to be freed. I do not believe that any of those trance preachers whom I have met is a believer. (20)

 

false assurance

 

Experiencing a sense of a false assurance can also be one characteristic of a foolish virgin. These kinds of people differ from many others in not placing their trust in their actions but rather in the internal revelations, dreams, and voices they have experienced.

  These people may base the assurance of their salvation on, for example, a voice that has told them, "Your sins have been forgiven!" or "You are my beloved child!" Or they may have revelations about Christ hanging on the cross or see some other image of Him as the Savior, such as the Christ stretching His arms towards them. They may have placed their assurance on this kind of an image or voice.

   A good explanation of this kind of a false assurance is presented by Jonathan Edwards, who lived in the 1700s. He describes how people can get these false revelations and images even about their own salvation. They may see these false revelations as being the Holy Spirit's message to them:

 

Then there are those people whose assurance comes from false religious experiences. These are of the worst kind. Their assurance often comes from assumed revelations. They call these revelations the ‘testimony of the Spirit’. They experience various kinds of revelations and might claim that the Spirit of God has revealed future events to them. It is no wonder that people, who accept such experiences, indeed do get different kinds of revelations even about their own salvation. (…)

   Imagine a person who has had a fear of Hell for a long time. Then, Satan comes and deceives him to thinking that God has forgiven his sins. Let us assume that Satan deceives him by a vision, in which there is a man with a beautiful, smiling face and open hands. The sinner believes that this vision is coming from Christ. Or perhaps Satan deceives him by a powerful voice, saying, ‘Son, your sins have been forgiven’, and the sinner takes this as the voice of God. So the sinner believes that he is saved, even though he does not have a spiritual understanding of the Gospel. (…)

   All of these religious feelings can appear together like this. However, the person whom we assumed to have experienced them is not a Christian! His feelings have come from the natural processes of the mind, not from the saving work of the Spirit of God. Anyone who wonders if this is possible knows very little about the human nature. (21)

 

Charles G. Finney also tells about this kind of a case in his book Ihmeellisiä herätyksiä. He describes a woman who based her assurance of salvation on a dream she had seen as a young girl – based on which she believed her sins to be forgiven:

 

During the revival, my attention was focused on a certain sick woman who had been a member of the Baptist church and was very well known in the locality but in whose piety people did not trust. Tuberculosis was rapidly weakening her and I was called to meet her. So I went and had a long conversation with her. She told me of a vision she had seen as a girl, which made her think that her sins had been forgiven. This was her argument and no evidence could shake her. I tried to convince her that this dream was by no means a sign of her conversion. I told her directly that her friends had assured me that she had never lived a Christian life or displayed a Christian disposition. I had come to try and get her to give up her wrong hope and to see whether she would like to receive Jesus Christ into her life so that she could be saved. I was very kind towards her but made my purpose very clear to her. She was, however, very insulted and when I left she complained that I only wanted to take her hope away from her and make her anxious, and that it was cruel to harass a sick person like this and disturb her peace of mind. Shortly after that she died. As her death approached, she received such a vision of God and the holiness that the inhabitants of Heaven must have that she cried in anguish and said that she was going to Hell. In this condition she died, as I was later told. (22)

 

How is the assurance experienced?

 

One characteristic of the above-mentioned false assurance is the different kinds of visions and revelations about Christ or a whispering voice promising forgiveness. (This can also be preceded by a powerful fear of hell – we dealt with this already in the previous passage – or even remorse over the sins, until finally, after experiencing these kinds of visions and voices, the people start believing that God loves them.) People then base their assurance of salvation on these.

   However, it is important to understand that a real assurance of salvation is not connected with any supernatural revelations, visions, or whispering voices that the devil is more than happy to give people.

   Instead, real assurance is about simply understanding what salvation is all about. It is about understanding and being assured of the truth of the Gospel: that Jesus is the Son of God and that by Him we can be saved. Thus Peter, who understood that Jesus was the Son of God, did not receive a special vision about it or hear a whisper. He simply understood that this is how things are. He only got a clear understanding and was convinced about it:

 

- (Matt 16:15-17) He said to them, But whom say you that I am?

16  And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

17  And Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father which is in heaven.

 

Jonathan Edwards, who lived in the 18^th century, also wrote about this. He says that many have gone astray as a result of having thought the testimony of the Holy Spirit to be some kind of an internal voice or a revelation:

 

When the Apostle Paul says that the Holy Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children, he does not mean that the Spirit will give some supernatural message or revelation to us. (…) The testimony of the Holy Spirit is not a spiritual whisper or a direct revelation. (…) Terrible damage has come from thinking that the testimony of the Holy Spirit is some kind of an internal voice, a message or an explanation from God to a man saying that he is loved, forgiven, chosen, and so on. How many seemingly real but false feelings have risen from this delusion! I am afraid that many people have gone to Hell being bluffed by this. That is why I have focused on this for such a long time. (23)

 

THE Fruit of BEING BORN AGAIN

 

If the conversion really has been genuine, it should bear fruit. We will look at this in the light of the next points:

 

It is possible to experience the wrong kind of conversion

 

It is possible to experience the wrong kind of conversion. It is possible that one can be so deceived that he thinks he has experienced salvation and that God has accepted him, when in fact he has only experienced the wrong kind of conversion.

  Jonathan Edwards dealt a lot with this matter in the 1700s. He noticed that talking about conversion did not always prove that the conversion was genuine. It was time that revealed that those "who had experienced a conversion" had actually not experienced a real conversion, after all:

 

Giving a touching testimony about one's feelings and experiences does not prove that the person is a real Christian. Anything that resembles God's work usually touches the believer's heart. Believers love to see sinners turning to God. It is not at all surprising that our hearts are touched when someone tells about being born again or gives a touching testimony about his experiences. And yet, it does not prove that the conversion is genuine.

   The Bible urges us to evaluate people by the life they lead, not by what they speak. (…)

   Let me put it this way: people who claim to have turned to God look beautiful, smell good, and give touching testimonies about their experiences. However, it all may come to nothing. Words prove nothing. (…)

 

What then should we think of a person who claims to have experienced a conversion but whose religious feelings soon die, leaving him to be the same person as he was before? He seems as selfish, worldly, stupid, lecherous, and non-Christian as ever. This speaks against him more firmly than any religious experience speaks for him. In Jesus Chris, circumcision or uncircumcision, dramatic experiences or quiet ones, great or bad testimonies mean nothing. The only thing that matters is a new creation. (24)

 

Rodney M. Howard-Browne wrote about this in his book Mitä tarkoittaa uudestisyntyminen ("What does it mean to be born again", free translation from the Finnish title, p. 4, 5). He described people who stood in line and said, “Jesus, I confess that you are my Lord and my Savior,” but who were never changed in their hearts:

 

The Lord told me, "Many people have even not been born again. They have never experienced being born again. They have never come under the cross. They have stood in line and said, ‘Jesus, I confess that you are my Lord and my Savior’ but in their hearts they have not changed."

   Being born again is not something that happens externally. Being saved is not done through reasoning. It takes place in the heart when one accepts Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. That is when he will change. He will become a new creation. This very thing is so exiting in being born again. (…)

   Do not come to tell me that you have been born again while you still live your life as before. I will not believe you. I do not care about the congregation you attend to. I do not care even if your father were a deacon. I do not care even if you were the leader of the elders. I do not care even if you belonged to all possible committees. When you are born again, you will change. You will become a new creation.

   People who think they can be born again and yet carry on with their lives as usual deceive themselves. Their relationship with God is not right and they cover it so well that even they themselves do not see it. They have never repented.

   In fact, there are people who think that they are a good deal to God. They think that God somehow owes them salvation.

 

What proof is there of a genuine conversion?

 

Certain features reflect genuine conversion. These features, which we are going to list, are actually a much better proof of genuine conversion than miracles (compare Matt 7:22-23), or abundant speech about spiritual experiences and feelings. These can be characteristic of many people who have the wrong kind of assurance. If you do not find the next qualities and attitudes in your life, you have probably not received salvation and have not been united with God:

 

The desire to do the will of God is perhaps the clearest sign of a genuine conversion. One may not always recognize or obey the will of God, and may struggle with it, but if he or she does not have any interest in doing God's will whatsoever, he or she has not been saved:

 

- (Rom 7:22) For I delight in the law of God after the inward man

 

- (Rom 6:17) But God be thanked, that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

 

Wanting to live a holier life is in principle the same as the previous point. This means that one continually wants to live a purer life and conquer the imperfections in his life.

   At the other end of the spectrum, there are many people who have wrong assurance and are often content with themselves and their life. They may live in a conversion that took place in the past but not live for God in the present. They actually trust in Christ to be their Savior from sin but do not want to be freed from sin in their lives.

 

- (Matt 5:3) Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

- (Matt 5:6) Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

 

Constant renewal and the fruit of the Spirit are another sign. This does not mean that the change should be visible after a few days but a change from one’s previous life should be visible after some time. If after five to ten years, one is still the same as when he or she was "born again," it most certainly means that he or she has not been saved:

 

- (2 Cor 3:18) But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the LORD.

 

- (2 Cor 4:16) For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

 

- (Rom 6:22) But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end everlasting life.

 

Accurate observations of the wrong kinds of attitudes in one's life and giving them up belong to the process in which the Holy Spirit exposes the wrong attitudes in our heart and also helps us to give them up. Often in this process we can feel ourselves quite miserable and thoroughly sinful as did the Apostle Paul:

 

- (Isa 6:5) Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the middle of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

 

- (Hebr 4:12-13) For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

13  Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

 

- (Rom 7:24-25) O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

 

Concern for the salvation of other people is one of the most important signs. When we ourselves have been saved, we immediately start to worry about the destiny of others. If we do not have this concern for other people, we have not been 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

 

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

 

- (1 Cor 9:22) To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

 

The desire to pray, especially for the salvation of others, is an immediate result of the previous. When we have understood that other people do not have eternal life, we will immediately start to pray for them so that they would be saved and the work of God would go forward. Prayer and the desire to pray even more are signs of genuine conversion:

 

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

 

- (1 Tim 5:5) Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusts in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.

 

- (1 Sam 12:23) Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way:

 

The desire to read the Bible and respect it as the Word of God belong to a genuine conversion. By reading the Bible we can get an internal understanding about this, even if we had thought quite the opposite previously. We can also grieve when the authority of the Bible is degraded or if the will of God does not come true in society:

 

- (Ps 119:103-105) How sweet are your words to my taste! yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

104  Through your precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.

105  Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.

 

- (1 Thess 2:9,13) For you remember, brothers, our labor and travail: for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.

13  For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe.

 

- (1 John 2:14) I have written to you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God stays in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.

 

The desire to share one's life with other Christians is also one sign of conversion. This desire is not always so strong but if a person does not have it at all, one might ask whether the person has experienced a real conversion at all:

 

- (Rom 1:11-12) For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, to the end you may be established;

12  That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

 

- (1 Thess 3:12) And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you

 

- (2 Peter 1:7) And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

 

What should a right conversion be like?

 

People who are not truly converted may emphasize things that are quite unessential or insignificant in God’s eyes. People may emphasize their special visions, miracles that have taken place through them, overflowing feelings, or some physical signs and regard those as evidence of Christianity. (When saying this, we do not want to undermine the real gifts of God – if they are from God – that are useful and necessary.)

   Such activities are not proof of someone's spirituality. They do not mean that we are very spiritual; indeed, the devil can cause similar effects and confound the work of God.

   Instead, the more essential thing is how someone's faith is put into practice, in his or her personality and actions.

   One’s personality should not reflect selfishness, anger, pride, quarrelling, or any other not-so-desirable qualities (we are often quite far from being perfect!). One should maintain a loving, humble, and forgiving nature. Actually, we should have a similar kind of attitude as that expressed by Jesus. He was humble, loving, and forgiving (Matt 11:29, John 13:1, John 1:14). It is true that we are often far from this, but it certainly is God's highest goal in the life of every man. Consider:

 

- (Phil 2:3) Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

 

- (Rom 13:8,10) Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loves another has fulfilled the law.

10  Love works no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

 

- (Jam 3:16-17) For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

17  But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

 

Everyday activity is another aspect of true conversion. Their importance is indicated, for example, in the list below, which also talks about obeying the authorities – thus, we can see that any kind of despotism, disorder, illegal behavior, or violence cannot be right. Looking at this list, we most probably feel ourselves imperfect but at least we have been given a model of how to live our lives. On the other hand, we can question whether one really is saved if he does not have any desire to live according to the will of God:

 

 - (Jam 2:1-4,8,9) My brothers, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

2  For if there come to your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;

3  And you have respect to him that wears the gay clothing, and say to him, Sit you here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand you there, or sit here under my footstool:

4  Are you not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

8  If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well:

9  But if you have respect to persons, you commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

 

- (Jam 2:15-17) If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

16  And one of you say to them, Depart in peace, be you warmed and filled; notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body; what does it profit?

17  Even so faith, if it has not works, is dead, being alone.

 

- (1John 3:17-18) But whoever has this world’s good, and sees his brother have need, and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwells the love of God in him?

18  My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

 

- (Matt 5:44) But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which spitefully use you, and persecute you

 

- (1 Peter 2:13-14) Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;

14  Or to governors, as to them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.