SALVATION

Salvation is not a recited prayer, declaration of faith, ministerial proclamation, or church membership: Through supernatural union with Christ we are reconciled to God, a new creation freed from the power of sin and death. Having died to sin’s rule we are enslaved to righteousness, willing to crucify Self daily, allowing the Christ-Life to emerge replacing our old Self-life. This is Grace, the freedom not to sin... the freedom to be like Jesus. So Rejoice!

Salvation is a supernatural experience producing dramatic immediate evidence and continuing ongoing evidence of Christ’s indwelling Spirit, if we are truly saved. God’s goal for us is not a label, “Christian”, but a lifestyle embedded in holiness, reeking of “Christlikeness.” The “evidence” of salvation is our transformation into the nature of Christ: Self must decrease, and He must increase. The release of the Christ-Life within is our only hope of godliness. So... salvation without change? Well... it simply is not possible...

Salvation is the supernatural process of transformation into the nature of Christ. Our transformation begins the moment our heart says yes to the Father’s call, and never stops unless we throw the free will circuit breaker, disconnecting from God’s plans and purposes. We evidence our salvation by change in the things that really matter, the inward appetites that drive our outward choices. Salvation is demonstrated as the desires of our inner life are dramatically changed from Self to God, as we “seek those things which are above ... set our mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Col. 3:1-3)

Inward transformation is manifested as the Fruit of the Spirit outwardly: “Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing the proper fruits of it. Test and prove yourselves. Do you not yourselves realize and know, thoroughly by an ever-increasing experience, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless you are counterfeits, disapproved on trial and rejected”? (2 Cor. 13:5, Amplified Bible) They will know we are Christians by our Love... Joy... Peace... Longsuffering... Kindness... Goodness... Faithfulness... Gentleness... Self-control. There is no salvation without the fruit of Christlikeness: “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Those who are Christ’s have made Him both “Lord and Savior.” (Gal. 5:22-24; 2 Peter 1:11)

SALVATION:

THE SUPERNATURAL PROCESS OF TRANSFORMATION

INTO THE NATURE OF CHRIST