Q1 - How would you describe those strategic lies that deceived and kept you from believing the Gospel?
A1 - That’s a good question. For a long time, I viewed God through the lens of fear and suspicion. I knew He was real, but thought He was acting like a cosmic mob boss, running a protection racket over His creation. Like, I thought Jesus Christ was the “friendly face” of the operation handling public relations, and that the Holy Spirit was the enforcer ready to trigger the trap door straight to hell for those people who were late on their weekly payments of good works and worship.
I thought the gospel was getting “saved” from God’s wrath as simply a bribe. I genuinely believed the gospel was a trap designed to keep people in emotional and spiriutal bondage. From what I can remember, I don’t think that my understanding was all that unique among other theistic Satanists, including Neo-Pagans and Atheists I knew at the time.
Q2 - Could you describe those truths from God’s word you believe now, after salvation?
A2 - Sure thing! I now know God through my Savior, Jesus Christ. God is a good, loving Father who watches over all His creation with boundless grace and mercy. Jesus Christ alone discloses God to humanity by his life and paying our entire sin debt on the cross. And that the Holy Spirit becomes our spiriutal guide, comforter, and guarantor of salvation the very moment a person simply believes.
I know now that my salvation testimony is the same as any other Believer: I was instantly and irrevocably adopted as a child of God, received the forgiveness of sins and eternal life when I simply believed - apart from anything else to earn, maintain, verify, or grow - that Jesus is the Christ, the only unique Son of God, to receive His marvelous free grace gift of salvation.
(John 1:12; 3:16; 5:24; 20:21; 10:28; Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 1:7; 4:30; Colossians 1:14; 1 John 5:1)
Q3 - What convicted you to believe the Gospel?
A3 - While the Holy Spirit was at work “poking holes in my worldview” through a handful of Christians, it wasn’t until my first semester at Ethnos360 Bible Institute that I experienced a blinding glare of the obvious. While I came to believe God was morally good, I still was not convinced He was unconditionally loving and that grace was a wage, working like “lay-away” - I thought grace to receive salvation “kicked-in” after all I could do, and I had to do a lot…
One of my dorm brothers (Sam) and I were at a local coffee shop with a few other students and like 2-3 teachers. He skillfully challenged what was left of my obviously weak and tattered worldview with a strategic analogy. It went something like this, “Imagine an elderly married couple. The husband has advanced dementia, often forgetting he was ever married. This causes him to be fearful of his wife, even starting to hate and hit her. Does this mean that their marriage was illegitimate? Would it mean that their marriage is now no longer legitimate? Would it be loving for the wife to divorce her husband because he is not of sound mind?”
After reflecting on my own grandparent’s experience (not the same, but similar enough), I said that the endurance of the wife simply proves her unconditional love, and that every moment she endures with her husband is a reflection of her faithfulness to the promise she made to him at their wedding…
Sam went on to say something like, “Exactly! The husbands good works never earned, maintains, or verify their marriage. It’s all about her love, grace, and truth being poured out to him in his time of need. And it’s the same with God’s offer of salvation towards humanity.”
He had persuaded me that it’s simple belief in Jesus Christ and His faithfulness, not mine, that receives God’s marvelous free grace gift of salvation. Sam and I have not talked in years, and I’m sure he has forgotten about that day, but I am forever thankful he took the time to share the gospel with a young, cringy, confused sinner trying to “fake-it-to-they-made-it.”
