[TruthTalk] Saved - Salvation

[Judy Taylor]

But  I was raised in the church  --   was always involved;   never experienced the Lord.   I knew about Him, like so many.   I wanted to know Him in a different way  --    If you didn't know Him (had never experienced Him) to begin with then how would you know it was a "different way" of knowing Him?  IOW you were looking for or seeking an "experience" which I was warned against early on.  I was encouraged in the obedience of faith. I knew my bible.   I had memorized whole books of the bible. I was very familiar with its pages.  But no experience.  In the years between '87 and '97   -- I left off the study of the written word and lived my life as best I could.     So you didn't take John 8:31 seriously, you were a memorizer rather than a doer of God's Word and you got weary in well doing, became discouraged and gave up on Him?  Why did you think you "knew" your Bible and yet were willing to abandon it and what about all those Greek books in your library JD?  Memorization is not where it's at - It's being a doer (rather than a hearer only) that God responds to.  Faith is what pleases Him.   And in '97, 40 years after my water baptism,   I experienced the Lord in a dynamic way, prayed for,   years and years earlier.    The difference, for me, is this "immersion" thing.   I immersed myself in Him  -- all I read was of faith; the music was praise;  my fellowship with others was with believers  --  no Rush;  Chrsitian tapes and CD's.   No news.   After 10 years of being away from the Book,  I found this second trip a real trip.   Hmmmm.... So music, Community, tapes and CD's did for you what God's Word itself could not accomplish and this after a 10yr fast from God and His Word?  No wonder you and the libs from the North are kindred spirits.  But tell me how can you be sure it is Him you are immersed in and not CA religious warm fuzzies? The prophet Amos spoke of a time coming when there would be a famine - not for food - but a famine for the Word of God.  Looks like we are here folks.... People seeing but not seeing and hearing but not hearing.   jt