Salvation : The Things You Were Probably Not Told...

In a rather miraculous set of circumstances at one time in my life, I found myself pastoring a church where the congregation largely considered themselves Christians but did not believe the Bible and had had no experience of the Holy Spirit. This was a situation that I had never encountered before and thus I was totally unprepared. God was with my wife and me through it all; we learned much and hopefully helped some reconnect with Him, and for some, introduce them. The experience was not without its battles and through it all God was challenging those people and inviting them to not only come to Him, but also to engage in the great mission Christ Jesus has given His church. When we moved on at God's call we found ourselves involved in a ministry with a completely different theological foundation-one with which we were much more familiar and comfortable. Ironically, virtually the same issues we faced in the previous place of ministry with such obvious unbelief were replicated in the new situation-obviously our eyes were in need of being opened. It led me to coin the phrase, 'Different day, same devil'. I had never thought too much of it before. As Christians the world over, we rejoice in the fact that we have the same God, same Saviour and same Holy Spirit, but we also have the same enemy. Our mission work overseas has only reinforced this conclusion as exactly the same problems abound within all the cultures among which we get to minister. There is the same enemy and human beings are certainly no different from culture to culture-only superficialities separate us-what makes us all human is naturally the same. What perhaps alarms me the most are the false notions of salvation that are epitomised throughout the institutions of the church. God's word makes it very clear what it means to be in Christ and yet there is all manner of deviation, perhaps the most common is the institutional parading of itself as the vehicle for salvation-to which all the denominations and movements are guilty to some degree, some more than others. Belonging to a church institution might provide a sense of assurance, but it is a splintered reed of assurance and eternally can do little more than pierce the hand that leans upon it. God has given no totems (or idols) to rest our faith upon, only His Son. I would, if it were up to me, have no one spend eternity where the devil and his angels will spend theirs (Mt 25:41), and of course neither would God, hence He sent His Son. That is the purpose for this book-my intention is to present a clear picture to all who read it, of what salvation is meant to be and what it is not, but so often falsely presented as. My success with that intention will be seen in time, however, the intention is to help people to find God or return to God and live for Him by following His one and only Son, by the empowering of God's Holy Spirit. This work is not intended to be a systematic theology on salvation, rather a practical handbook which is comprehensive from a Charismatic Evangelical perspective, but in no way exhaustive-there is so much more that could be said. My prayer is that it will be beneficial to those who read it and be of immense help as you journey with our God and our Saviour, whose love for us is beyond measure.

• | Author: David Caton
• | Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• | Publication Date: Jul 12, 2018
• | Number of Pages: 368 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 1721234179
• | ISBN-13: 9781721234172