If you were a secure Christian saved by His blood , then why leave ?
Are we back to this again, Howard? Why is it you cannot accept the truth that salvation is by GRACE, through FAITH, in CHRIST...... ALONE!!!???
When God saves a sinner, he is just that; a sinner. If only those who had a Ph.D in theology and a perfect theology at that, WHO would be saved? Salvation is of the LORD and not of Howard. It is HE, Who sits in the heavens Who determines when, where and by what means to call HIS elect to faith. We, on the other hand, are responsible to preach the pure Gospel to everyone, everywhere. We are going to be held accountable for preaching/teaching/believing wrong doctrine. But the truth is, as much as it surely pains you to hear it, people outside of the "perfect Calvinistic camp" ARE SAVED. There isn't ONE single individual I can possibly think of, outside of perhaps yourself, that needs to grow in grace in so many areas of their life, including knowledge of the Scriptures and it's truth. Even Paul had to be taken personally by Christ and tutored privately for 3 years before he got his theology straightened out. Would you suggest that Paul wasn't saved on the Damascus Road when the Lord Christ first struck him down? Do you believe that it wasn't until AFTER Paul was released from "school" where he learned to cast off all the errors he had previously believed, all the misinterpretations of Scripture he had been taught and embraced for years . . . before he became a "real" Christian?
May I humbly suggest you spend a little more time examining YOURSELF and less time attempting to "sift chaff from the wheat".
Because, Howard, I have since come to recognize a number of errors within the movement. I was saved before I came to a Reformed understanding, and why couldn't I have been? You surely know the motto, Reformed and always reforming? The simple fact of the matter is that we will never have a perfect understanding of God's sovereignty and grace, and, praise the Lord of mercy, our salvation is not dependent upon our understanding, but entirely upon Him.
Kyle
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified.
Pentecostalism, along with Neo-Pentecostalism and other charismatic groups, are labels for a huge segment (the largest church in the world is in Korea—Yoi Do Full Gospel Church boasting 240,000 members) of the “Christian” world which believes in the experienced presence of the 3rd person of the trinity—the Holy Spirit. IMHO this is done to a fault. This portion of Christianity insists they have active involvement with the Holy Spirit in everyday life: including a Wesleyan/Holiness form of sanctification, divine healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues, et. al. Among other errors, Pentecostalism believes in women preachers. The Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.) began ordaining women in 1909. The Assemblies of God first ordained women in 1914. <br><br>In the years following Azusa Street (a “revival” lead by William J. Seymour— Azusa Street Mission), numerous Pentecostals began to question the proper formula for baptism. Pentecostals noted that the baptisms in the book of Acts were in the name of Jesus only. With this understanding, some began to baptize and re-baptize in Jesus’ name only. But, what began as a baptismal formula soon led to a denial of the Trinity by some denominations (Oneness Pentecostals). <br><br>While I WOULD NOT and DO NOT agree with several of the beliefs within Pentecostalism, I DO see one important aspect of the Scripture they have re-highlighted and brought to the Church—the active involvement of the Holy Spirit. Because of their errors in this area, they have caused the Church to reevaluate the person, presence, and ministry of the Holy Spirit exegetically, historically, in the life of the community of the Church, and for individual Christian living. While like in any other "evangelical" denomination there are the lost and the saved, IMHO they have some of the elect in their midst. Sinclair Ferguson has an excellent book called. The Holy Spirit if anyone is interested.
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