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From: It Is Time for a Reformation of the Christian Thinking

The program of redemption begins when we are in union with Satan and reveal Satan’s image in our thoughts, our words, and our actions. The program of redemption has been completed when we are in restful union with the Father through Christ and are revealing in our thoughts, words, and actions the image of Christ.

One important goal of salvation is the attainment to the resurrection to eternal life (Philippians 3:11). Attaining to the resurrection of the saints, which Paul held out as our goal, includes death to the world, to the lusts of our flesh—to our entire old nature; and coming to know the power of Christ’s resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. We are seeking total union with God through Christ.

Our salvation has to do with our relationship with Christ. We hope for the resurrection unto life so we can resume our activities on the earth in the Presence of the Lord.

The Traditional Understanding

The goal of salvation is to make our eternal residence in Heaven.

We attain to the goal by professing faith in Christ.

Divine grace is a legal state of amnesty, a continuing, unconditional pardon of the sins of the believer. Our behavior on the earth, while important, is not critical to our salvation.

The principal task of the Christian is to not forget he has been saved by grace and to bring as many other people as possible into this state of eligibility for Heaven.

The Scriptural Understanding

The program of redemption begins when we are in union with Satan and reveal Satan’s image in our thoughts, our words, and our actions. The program of redemption has been completed when we are in restful union with the Father through Christ and are revealing in our thoughts, words, and actions the image of Christ.

The Holy Spirit has given us four great types of redemption: the seven days of creation; the feasts of the Lord; the pilgrimage of Israel from Egypt to Canaan; and the seven furnishings of the Tabernacle of the Congregation.

Each of the four types may be broken into seven stages of salvation. They help us understand our progress from Satan to God.

One goal of salvation is the attainment to the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:11). Attaining to the resurrection of the saints, which Paul held out as our objective, includes death to the world, to Satan, to the lusts of our flesh—to our entire old nature; and coming to know the power of Christ’s resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. We are seeking total union with God through Christ.

Our salvation has to do with our relationship with Christ rather than with moving from earth to Heaven. We hope for the resurrection so we can resume our life on the earth.

We attain to the goal of inner resurrection (which will result in actual resurrection when the Lord appears) by receiving the Person of Christ. Receiving the Person of Christ and abiding in Him is a much more intimate and demanding experience than merely acknowledging that Christ is our Lord and Savior. It is an actual coming to Christ.

Divine grace is the Lord Jesus Himself. When we truly come to Him by faith He receives us. He assumes the responsibility for us and begins to cleanse us from sin and rebellion.

Although we may be very wicked when the Spirit leads us to Christ, the Lord forgives our sins. Then He begins the work of separating us completely from Satan, conforming us to His own death and resurrection and bringing us into perfect, complete union with Himself.

The work of moving us from Satan to God begins the moment we receive Christ, continues throughout our lifetime on the earth, and will be completed when the Lord returns from Heaven.

The principal tasks of the Christian are to cooperate with the Holy Spirit as He performs the work of moving him from Satan to Christ, to assist in the perfecting of the other members of the Body of Christ, as the Spirit guides and enables, and to bear witness of Christ to all mankind—again, as the Spirit guides and enables.

There are errors in the traditional understanding of salvation—errors that have resulted in an immature, confused, divided Christian Church. A weak, ineffective testimony is being given to the world.

The concept of Divine grace as a continuing, unconditional pardon does not sufficiently take into account the Scriptures that teach if we do not bear fruit we will be cut out of the Vine, out of Christ (John 15:2; Hebrews 6:8); the numerous passages that make it clear that God judges the sins of the believers (Galatians 5:21; I Peter 4:17); or the necessity for walking carefully in God’s will as a condition of receiving the continual cleansing of the blood of Christ (Romans 8:4; I John 1:7).

The traditional concept does not place nearly enough emphasis on the change of personality to be brought about by the new covenant (Romans 8:29; II Corinthians 3:18; 5:17,18).

The traditional concept assumes that our change into righteous behavior will take place in Heaven after we die. There is no scriptural support for this.

The limiting of grace to a legal state of amnesty makes the new covenant a covenant primarily of forgiveness rather than a covenant of transformation into righteous behavior. While the new covenant includes forgiveness of sins, as does the old covenant, the new covenant is superior in that it is an act of Divine transformation of our personality (Hebrews 8:10).

The concept of grace as an amnesty (a continuing, unconditional pardon of the believer) has created an invisible church. Since the world cannot see a state of amnesty the Church cannot serve as the light of the world. The good works are absent (Matthew 5:16).

The traditional understanding relegates true righteousness, fellowship with Jesus, and eternal life to another time (after we die) and another place (Heaven—the spirit realm). The futuristic emphasis invites the believer to absorb himself in the life of the world instead of attending with all diligence to the daily work of transformation taking place now.

The traditional understanding has left the believers vulnerable to the nineteenth century “revelation” of the catching up (rapture) to Heaven of the immature, divided, professors of belief in Christ, leaving the Kingdom of God to those who are Jewish by race.

The doctrine that the saved Jews inherit the earth while the saved Gentiles inherit the spirit realm is a travesty of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God preached by Christ and the Apostles of the Lamb. The Scriptures, both Old and New Testament, teach clearly that resurrection unto eternal life and an inheritance in the city of Jerusalem are the goals of all who are part of Christ whether Jew or Gentile by race.

We are in need of a reformation of Christian thinking.

(“What Is Salvation?”, 3718-1)