Faith is a gift of God and no one is able to believe in Jesus under the power of his or her own will. It is the Holy Spirit that guides and then quickens those who are called that they might receive faith. Human free will is governed by the Law as we each choose whether we will serve good or evil by our choices and all human choices between good and evil will one day be judged by the only One qualified to judge, Christ Jesus. In Christ is a better way that human free will and certain judgement and that is the receiving of Christ by faith. A gift purely of Grace that serves the purposes of God as the purposes of God are also to our benefit; for God's interests best serve our own interests.
Jesus so flawlessly served the purposes of God on earth as to cover the sins of all flesh by the shedding of His own blood thereby, opening the Way to Life for all men and women. Christ did not come to condemn the world but to save it.
I am an old hippy and I detest labels for I have discerned the diversity of God to be of higher value than the uniformity of mankind. However, since humans can at times be confused by diversity, I will in an effort to avoid confusion over the areas in which Trent and I are divergent in faith that is unified in the person of Jesus Christ, allow some labels to be loosely applied to my person. This is with the disclaimer that I am still very much involved in the process of Christ being formed in me and as God reveals new aspects of the character of Jesus Christ to me and in me, these labels may no longer fit.
At nineteen years of age, Jesus revealed Himself to me and I received saving faith. I had practically none of what people call "head knowledge" and did not receive faith under any sort of religious training. I was raised as a free-thinking heathen and I had reached the end of my free-thinking ways. It was evident that my way was only capable of bringing me death. The Holy Spirit made me aware that I was indeed a sinner and in desperate need of saving. Jesus revealed Himself to me as Savior and the Holy Spirit enabled me to reach for Him. I am a born again believer in Jesus Christ.
As I have studied God's Word, listened to teachers and preachers, and shared my faith with other believers, God by the power of His Holy Spirit, continues to reveal Himself to me. These revelations are the process by which the whats of my faith have been and are being formed. Their value is not in their use as principles to live by (though the Bible is useful in principle form)but in equipping me to better testify of the hope that is in me and that hope is Jesus Christ. I have no desire to convert anyone to my whats as any kind of special teachings. I do desire that God will use my writing to reveal Jesus Christ to others and to encourage those to Whom Christ has also been revealed along the Way.
Writing about Jesus is an act of worship for me and all of the whats of my faith that God has revealed to me in His Son are utilized in that act of worship.
I am a conditionalist. That is, I believe that all life is conditional upon God. There is no life in any living thing apart from the breath of God. Every breath we take and every conscious moment we enjoy is dependent upon God. No soul is immortal apart from God.
I believe that Life is the eternal state and death is a temporary state. God has allowed death to limit life on earth as to also limit the length of time that man will be able to dwell on the earth in sin, under the power of his own free will, spiritually dead to God. Sin and death are inexorably intertwined and when sin has been fully done away with death will consume itself in the lake of fire. The death of death is indeed, the second death and when death has been fully consumed, there will remain only Life. This is the eternal state to which God through the finished work of Jesus Christ will return to His Creation at the end of time.
I Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. AND Romans 11:32 For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
I Corinthians 11: 22-28 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn:Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For He "has put everything under His feet" Now when it says that "everything" has been put under Him, it is clear that this does not include God Himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this , then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.I believe that in regards to human beings, there are none who are righteous. There are none who will under the power of their own will seek God. Human beings are totally helpless to sin as we are by nature self-serving and wholly unable to choose correctly between good and evil. This condition was passed from Eve to Adam and then to the entire human race. Death was introduced into the creation to limit this state and as death was passed to man, man passed death to the whole creation. All that is seen will die. Because of the sin of Adam the whole Creation is under the shadow of death. Christ conquered death by His perfect submission to God, He was God on earth and when He conquered death, He was able to take His life up again and is in the process of injecting that Life back into this Creation through those who believe in His Holy Name. Just as death spread to all through the sin of Adam, so will all be made alive by Christ's imparting of Life.
I believed that there are a limited number of persons who are being called out at this time to form a called out company. Those who are being called out of the world by the Holy Spirit to faith in Jesus Christ to form a special company of persons to serve Him in His redemptive work that is taking place within the entire creation. I am one of these called out persons. The personal destiny of these believers is but a detail in the plan that God has designed for us. I believe that God has shown Mercy on me, one so completely undeserving of that Mercy, the He might in the fullness of the dispensation of time, also be able to show Mercy upon all.
God says it and that settles it. I believe it and by doing so, I find myself in company with those who call themselves, Christian Universalists. We are a small company. I am not a Unitarian, I am not ecumenical, and seek no religious unity. My unity is with other believers in Jesus Christ. Though I have received from God at this time, a greater hope for all the Creation than many of my brothers and sisters share, I don't wish to break away from them and form my own organization based upon what God has revealed to me. Neither do I exclude any scriptures that speak of the wrath of God for I no longer find them to contradict one another. Though these two ideas were once in contradiction in me, they have been reconciled by the long suffering that God has toward me in Christ. I know that it is in this long-suffering that hope for all women and men lies. I know that He desires that all come to repentance and none perish. I know that His desires are good and that He is fully able to bring them to pass. I believe that God, in His Mercy, has set a limit upon His wrath by the fulfillment of His long-suffering in concluding all men and women equal in Christ. For every knee will bend and every tongue confess Jesus Christ as Lord. I believe that Jesus will be revealed to each of us in our own turn and when He has been revealed, who has the power to resist? I believe there are those who will suffer the second death and just as I by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Who first appeared as tongues of fire) die daily to all that I hold onto that is not Christ and am purified, so those who on that last day who have Christ revealed to them, will pass through that fire and be purified by it. Upon the death of death, those who have perished by it will emerge redeemed from the fire that will consume the entire Universe, for our God is a Consuming Fire. When Hades and the last enemy of Christ, Death has consumed itself there will emerge the New Heaven and the New Earth that will never end for all will have been redeemed from the shadow of sin and death and only Life will remain. This all to the glory of God by the power of Jesus Christ.
These are the hows and the current whats of Christ in Pam. I ask that none adopt what God has given to me to know but instead, to look only to Jesus as He reveals Himself to you. Look to Jesus and Live!
My commandment to you is to love those who have wronged you and forgive them, starting with your own self; and be patient with those whom you have wronged. ~ Jesus [Letters from God and His Christ - Volume 6 - Bear Fruit According to the Spirit of Truth]